Beyond the Infinite Dark, Vol 2
by 1LoneShadow
Summary: Haseo has left Equestria, and now the Mane six have been given a mission of their own; to study The World. They will met new friends, and go on adventures in this game world. But will they figure out what's actually going on? Or not? Re-uploaded. Takes place during Reminisce. AU. Sequel to BTID, Vol 1. Hiatus will end soon.
1. Prologue

Prologue

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The days following Haseo's departure from Equestria were normal. During that time the lives of the ponies slowly became normal again, and AIDA stopped appearing in Equestria. In the library Twilight was reading some books, at the farm Applejack was doing her chores, Rainbow Dash was flying and practicing, in the boutique Rarity was finishing an order for a client, at her cottage Fluttershy was tending to her animals' needs, and Pinkie Pie was doing… Pinkie Pie things in who knows where. But right now, let's join Spike and Twilight at the library, Spike stayed up late last night, and was just waking up from a nice dream.

"Hey, Twilight," Said Spike groggily. "what are you doing?"

"Oh, good morning, Spike. I'm not doing anything special. When did you go to be last night?"

"Oh, around Uhhh... 1, I think..."

"1 PM?! Spike, keep that up and you'll be in no condition to help me or Rarity. And we both know how that will turn out." She said almost completely unsurprised.

"Yeah, yeah I know. So what do you want for breakfast?" Asked Spike.

"Oh, I already ate. It'll be just you and owlowiscious this time." Replied Twilight.

"Oh, okay then." Right at the moment he said "then", his cheeks swelled and was forced into the air for a second as a letter appeared in green flames with the royal seal on it. It could only mean one thing. "What the? It's from the princess."

"Well, what does it say?" Asked Twilight inquisitively. Spike unrolled the letter and began reading it aloud. it said:

_To my faithful Student Twilight, I am using this letter to inform you that a mysterious giant gold colored ring has appeared in town square next to the mayor's house. I believe this to be an entrance into Haseo's world. I am assigning you and your friends to go to The World and study it. Report your findings to me when you're done. _

_Your mentor, Princess Celestia of Equestria._

_P.S. Don't worry about staying there for a little while if you need to. We'll take care of things._

Twilight was exited to get a new assignment, especially if it was in another world. And they would potentially get to meet Haseo again. Who knew what new things she would learn in a society with almost no laws. Without further delay she packed her saddlebags and left the library, leaving Spike in charge.

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She gathered her friends and went to town square to see what this giant ring was. It certainly looked like a platform, but it was considerably larger and more elaborate than what she and her friends saw a few days ago. It was a giant ring with two even smaller rings inside it; connected. It had blue spheres of energy rotating in the smallest ring, and a crest at the top of the largest ring. The mares just looked at it with questions raised.

"So, Twilight. What the hay, is that thing?" Asked Applejack.

"Princess Celestia said it was a portal to Haseo's world. But when she said 'giant gold colored ring' I didn't think it would look like this. I'd better take some notes." Replied Twilight.

"My, these rings look simply amazing, I feel all sorts of inspiration coming to me!" Said Rarity, excitedly giggling.

"Twilight, are we going to Haseo's world?" Asked Fluttershy curiously.

"Yeah, we're going, it's because of a new assignment from Princess Celestia. Although I'm not sure about what will happen or who or what we'll see there." Replied Twilight.

"Well whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle anything 'The World' brings my way!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash arrogantly. The rest of the ponies looked at her in irritation. "I-I mean we... heh, heh, heh." She said awkwardly.

"Ooh, Ooh! I can't wait to see what happens when we go in!" Said Pinkie Pie, exited. "I bet there'll be monsters and otherworldly beings that stand on two legs, or have fur! I wonder if they'll have giant swords" too, just like Haseo!" She seemed strangely exited about potentially dangerous or frightening circumstances. "It'll be so much fun!"

"Oh my... that doesn't sound very fun, at all, Pinkie Pie." Said Fluttershy hiding in her mane.

"Don't worry sugarcube, we'll protect you." Said Applejack trying to comforting her friend; it didn't do a whole lot to help the yellow pegasus as she was still a little bit scared of what might lie beyond the unknown portal into 'The World'.

Twilight took a deep breath. "Okay girls, ready to go?" The rest of them nodded. They cautiously walked closer to the mysterious giant ring. Then they tried to get in through many means; magic, brute force, magic words, none of it worked. Then they tried just thinking of going to The World; Twilight honestly didn't expect it to work, but it did work; blue rings appeared around the ponies bodies as they turned into blue spheres and flew into the ring. The girls had no idea what they were getting into...

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"Yes... they did it... excellent." Said a voice as it's owner plotted it's next move.

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I'm exited about this next entry. Tell me what you think.


	2. Reunions

Chapter 1 Reunions

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The girls felt a little bit dizzy after the teleportation and currently just stand in some type of dome-shaped building; with a giant ring just like the one they saw in town in the center of it. They were just standing there a little bit afraid at the sight of some of these creatures. Some only had hair on their heads, like Haseo, while others had hair all over their bodies. Some even had cat ears. In their heads they were freaking out over just about everything they were seeing. But they (mostly Rarity) freaked out even more when they saw their own bodies. They had no fur and hair was only existent on their heads. They only stood on two legs as well. Their hair had the same color with similar styles, but wore clothes that didn't look like they were from Equestria. Fluttershy wore a long green sleeveless dress with a formal feel to it. Pinkie Pie wore a pink sleeveless shirt with a collar and slightly baggy white shorts. Applejack was wearing bronze colored plate armor on her chest and elbows, exposing her midriff, brown pants, and armored boots. Rainbow Dash looked similar to an anime inspired kunoichi, with a sky blue two-piece out fit with a black undershirt. Rarity wore a small royal purple dress lined in white and a hat of the same color. And finally, Twilight was wearing a thigh length dress with long sleeves, thigh length boots of the same color that were somehow connected to it, and metal accents. The girls all had a symbol resembling their cutie mark either on their body, face, or outfit. Applejack's symbol was on her exposed midriff, Fluttershy's and Pinkie's were on their foreheads, Rainbow Dash's was on her right arm, and everyone else's was on their outfit in some pattern; Rarity had diamond symbols lined on the hat and the bottom of the dress, and Twilight's was was on her dress in a pattern.

Surprisingly, they got used to walking on two legs pretty quickly and soon afterwards, began searching for Haseo. If anyone knew about this world, it was him (plus they knew Haseo personally). Twilight said it would be best if they split up and looked for him, and that's what they did; they agreed to meet back at the inside of the dome once they gave up. They left the dome through the large doors and saw a truly memorable sight. The most beautiful sunset that they had ever seen... ever. The town simply looked... beautiful; had that antiquated sort of charm to it and Rarity's head was now brimming with inspiration. But she thought, (No! Now is not the time for that. I need to help look for Haseo). After a while, they went back to the dome, having made no progress. Just then, they started hearing voices. People were talking. They turned around and saw who it was.

"Gee, thanks for showing us how to play the game. You guys were really nice!" Said a young looking boy who the girls assumed was a player. He had another boy with him, whom they also assumed was a player.

"No problem. Our pleasure!" Said a short, round player with pink hair, orange magician's robes, really small feat, and a dog-like face.

"Yeah, don't hesitate to message us if you forge anything. And don't forget to have fun while you're playing!" Said the fourth player, an extremely handsome young man with long brown hair tied into a ponytail with green clothing and gloves.

"Okay, we will." Said the other boy. "Goodbye!" He bid the man and beast before going into the dome. Then the man and beast noticed the girls because they were in their way and attempted to start a conversation with them.

"Oh, hey there. Are you all new players?" He said to them.

"...They don't look like new players, their levels are around our own." Said the beast, looking at their status, "But I doubt I've seen them before. Maybe they passed by while I was helping other customers at the shop." He wondered. Rarity was the first to speak.

"Actually, we're not new players, but it's been such a long time. Could you boys remind us how to play?" Asked Rarity politely, making up a quick white lie. "Oh, and my name is Rarity, it's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Silabus." He said introducing himself.

"And I'm Gaspard!" Said the beast. "We're part of the noob-support guild called Canard!"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle." Introduced the Purple haired one.

"Name's Applejack, a pleasure to meet you, Silabus, Gaspard." She reached out and gave them one of her brutal handshakes.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! And this is my first time here in The World!" Shouted Pinkie Pie excitedly."

"I'm Rainbow Dash, best new player in The World!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, with her familiar pride.

"A-and, my name is... Fluttershy." Said Fluttershy so quietly you'd barely here a sound.

"Uh, what?" Questioned Silabus.

"My name is, Fluttershy." She said again.

"One more time please, I didn't quite get it."

"...Was it, Fluttershy?" Asked Gaspard.

"Yes..." She quietly answered.

"So do you need a reminder on how to play the game? We'll be happy to do it, seeing as how players tend to skip reading the manual." Said Gaspard, being helpful.

"That would be lovely, thank you." Said Rarity, graciously.

"Okay then, let's start with the basics." Said Silabus, giving them and Gaspard their member addresses.

"Member addresses are an address system used for communicating with friends in The World. When you want to invite someone to join your party, check the 'Party' window in the menu, and check their status. If they're online, you can invite them. But if their status says 'Busy', it means that they're in The World, but are involved with something else and don't want to be disturbed. You guys should probably exchange member addresses too." Lectured Gaspard. The girls did so and made the exchange, with some help from Silabus and Gaspard. Twilight was also taking mental notes so she could eventually tell Princess Celestia about it.

"Now, we should start by going to an area. Let's see, some good area words would be..."

"Actually Silabus, we need your help with something else." Said Twilight.

"Well, okay, what is it?"

"We're looking for a player named Haseo. Do you know where he is?"

"Wait, you know Haseo?" Asked Gaspard, surprised. "Where did you hear about him?" He assumed that they had heard about him from other players.

"We met him." Answered Rainbow Dash, proving the two boys wrong.

"In the real world?"

"Um, not exactly." Answered Fluttershy.

"So... did you chat with him online." Asked Silabus.

"Uh, something like that." Answered Rainbow Dash.

"Well, okay, we'll take you to him. We're actually friends of Haseo."

"Oh, thank you Silabus, you're such a gentleman." Said Rarity.

"Well, let's go." Said Silabus, leading the girls to, somewhere. He sent a message to Haseo telling him to meet him and Gaspard at the dome.

(He'll notice me someday. And then I'll have the last laugh, again.) Thought Rarity, of Silabus.

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The group went into the dome to wait for him. Still wondering what the giant ring was, Twilight started a conversation. "Silabus, could you tell me what this... ring is?"

"That's the Chaos Gate, it's like a teleportation device you use to go to areas in The World. The kind of area you go too depends on certain keywords that you get. The keywords determine terrain, monster and item level, elemental attributes, and so on." Responded Silabus.

"I see..." She said, taking mental notes. While meeting Haseo again was a given, actually seeing him wasn't automatic. It would take another ten minutes or so before he appeared. Twilight took more mental notes while they waited, looking at the Chaos Gate while players were warping in. Ten minutes had passes by then and at last, from the familiar blue rings, a player appeared; with armor that looked just as demonic if not even more demonic than King Sombra ever was. It was spikey, black, red, had three spikes on both shoulders, and a giant metallic lizard tail hanging from the back of the metallic collar. It was Haseo, in his 3rd form as an adept rogue. The girls didn't recognize him at first, and screamed and hid behind each other. But then, "H-Haseo? Is-is that you?" Asked Fluttershy, concerned about what happened to her friend.

"Huh? Who-who are you?"

"Oh come on, Haseo! Don't you recognize us?" Asked Rainbow Dash, furious.

"...Wait? Rainbow Dash?!" Haseo recognized all of them at that moment. It was all clear, they looked different, but they were still the same ponies that he had grown on.

"The one and only! It's been a while, Haseo." She said to him.

"Y-yeah, what are you doing here? And how did you get here in the first place?" He asked, perplexed.

"We came here as part of an assignment from Princess Celestia." Explained Twilight, who along with the other girls, recovered from the shock of seeing Haseo looking like a demon. "We're here to study The World. We came here from the Chaos Gate in the town square." Haseo said nothing, he was busy being perplexed about how a Chaos Gate could be in an area that isn't a town and how NPCs (them specifically) could join The World like normal players, or what the admins would think of this. He then noticed that Rarity was looking at him in a way that perfectly blended fear and disappointment. And he didn't figure out why until Rarity spoke to him.

"Haseo! I can't believe this! Why in the whole wide world of Equestria would you do something like this?! That outfit looks absolutely hideous!" She shouted at the adept rogue. "You are coming with me!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him off, yet she didn't even know where she was heading off with him. Haseo struggled to get out, but couldn't. She had a grip of steel.

"...Is she always like that?" Wondered Silabus.

"You have no idea." Responded Applejack.

Rarity then came back and asked, "Um, where can I go to buy some new clothing?" The other characters laughed.

"You know you can't really buy new outfits for your character, right?" Asked Silabus, still giggling slightly.

"Y-you can't! But why? How do you stay in touch with fashion in this game?"

"We don't." Responded Haseo.

"What?! What a strange world you live in." Haseo forcefully broke free from her grip.

"Look, do you want to learn how to play the game or not?" He asked them, somewhat impatiently.

"That was rude." Said Twilight. "But yes, I would like to learn how to play, learning the rules of the game is a good way to learn how the beings here behave. Would you mind teaching us?" She asked him.

"...Fine."

"Yay! A new game!" Said Pinkie, jumping enthusiastically. They exchanged member addresses and split into three parties so they could be taught at the same time. Haseo went with Twilight and Rainbow Dash, Silabus went with Rarity and Applejack, and Gaspard went with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. They entered the command to go to another area of the game, to begin the girls' lesson. They would have a lot to learn.

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Despite my initially low confidence in this sequel, I'm going at it full time now. Please tell me what you think.


	3. Lessons

Chapter 2 Lessons

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The group now joined by Haseo and his two friends Silabus and Gaspard, warped from the city that the girls now knew as Mac Anu, and into a large, slightly narrow, grassy area with a rock face on both sides and a wooden gate at the end of it with a large pinwheel on the top . There were also two stands for both the save shop and an item shop, both of which were run by duck NPCs. The girls were awestruck at this large, grassy town to the point that they couldn't even speak for the first ten seconds or so upon arriving.

"Wow..." Said Twilight as she studied the town and all it's sights.

"Wow is right, Twilight!" Said Rarity also surveying the town, inspiration overflowing her mind.

"Well now, this place just feels so natural, it's kind of like being on the farm again." Said Applejack."

"So, what are we doing here again, guys?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"This root town is the one for the **Θ** server, **Celestial City: Dol Dona**." Replied Silabus. "The **Θ **server contains areas that are at our levels and above them. You'll get more experience points here than areas that are in the **Eternal City: Mac Anu**. Remember?"

"Oh-oh yeah, right..." She replied sheepishly, the false statement Rarity came up with made girls felt uneasy about lying to Haseo's friends when they and Haseo knew the truth, but it was the best option they had; the other one was freaking out Silabus and Gaspard or making the two think they were crazy.

"Okay, let's see... some good area words would be..." Said Silabus, thinking.

"**Θ Cheering Unlimited Freedom**." Said Haseo, deciding on an area word for his party to go to.

"...I've got it! We'll head to **Θ Beloved Daybreak's Paradise**." Said Silabus, also deciding.

"And we'll go to... **Θ Counting Humbling Gate**." Said Gaspard, deciding the area word for his party.

"Okay, let's go!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, exited. Haseo entered the area words into the warp menu and his party warped away to begin training. Silabus and Gaspard's parties did the same to their respective areas to begin their lessons, completely ignorant of their party members' status.

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Haseo's party

Haseo's party warped into the area and found themselves inside a round blue room with gold accents and patterns on the wall. There was a hallway that seemed to go upward into the next room. Twilight was having trouble holding in her amazement and curiosity about the concept of the area word system.

"So, Haseo. Are there other types of areas?" She asked him.

"Yeah, towers, like this one, caves, shrines, canyons, and fields. It depends on the area words you use."

"And this is a tower?"

"Yeah, areas like this are called dungeons. Unlike fields, dungeons, are more linear. Each area has a mission for it too. Like getting a treasure from the beast temple, or fighting a boss."

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go kick some tail!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, enthusiastically waiting to play the game. The party went toward the pathway, further into the dungeon, but were stopped by boulders rolling in their way. But they disappeared when they got to the edge of the pathway. The girls were mad at Haseo for not telling them about it, but they got over it and they trekked further. They encountered another room, it was very similar looking to the one they were in before, almost to the point of confusing the girls. But something was different about the room, or something was _in_ the room, making it different than the one before. Two creatures were in the middle of the room. Large, dark-purple, hermit-crab like things with pincers the size of a filly and a large cone shell on each of them. On the other side, there was a pathway, blocked by a yellow barrier.

"Monsters." Said Haseo, identifying them as such. "Scissor Bytes. That's what they're called."

"So, do we fight them? Or can we work something out with them?" Asked Twilight.

"In order to gain experience, you fight them, there's no other way." Answered Haseo.

"Well let's go then!" Shouted an enthusiastic Rainbow Dash.

"They haven't seen us yet, so we can launch a surprise attack. Rainbow Dash, you want to get started."

"Uh, Yeah! Let's do this!" Rainbow Dash saw a greenish-blue reticle on one of the Scissor Bytes, along with a gauge at the upper-right corner of her view that seemed to show it's HP. Almost without thinking ... a pair of dual swords called Spin Fang appeared in her hands, and she lunged at the two monsters, damaging them a little bit and causing a blue energy field to materialize around the party. Haseo drew his weapon, a scythe by the name of Ticking Death. Rainbow Dash suddenly realized what she was doing and looked at the swords in her hands. She was holding weapons in her hands, and it didn't take her long to realize what she had to do. She began attacking one of the monsters.

Twilight discovered a book, floating in front of her, a grimoire to be exact, called Magic Huawen, supported by a stand. "Haseo, what should I do?!" Asked Twilight, uncomfortable with the current circumstances.

"You're supposed to be helping us fight, Twilight." Said Haseo, blocking an attack from a Scissor Byte, "support us with magic!"

"But, I don't know if any of my spells work here!" She shouted back. Suddenly one of the monsters lunged at her, intending to attack her as programmed. She put her arms in front of her in fear. It looked like the end for her. But...

"Reaper's Touch!" She heard a voice shout as she was about to be attacked! She recognized the voice as Haseo's. She opened her eyes and saw Haseo swing his scythe at the monster in a circular formation, before it kept on attacking him. She looked and saw that Rainbow Dash was also fighting it. "Twilight, try opening your skill window in the menu and selecting a spell from it." He suggested.

"But, how do I-" She stopped talking and remembered the time when she and the girls went to the Chaos Gate in Equestria. She just thought about going to The World through it, and it happened. So she tried doing the same thing to cast a spell. She thought about the menu... and sure enough it appeared rightin front of her it was dark red and had a gyro that supposedly contained different things. She saw that she could turn it as well. So she turned it and got to the part that said 'skills' and accessed it. This was the 'healing/support, tab, there were two other ones, labeled 'attack spells' and 'arts'. She went to 'attack spells', selected a spell out of nine to choose from, and a ring of energy appeared at her feat. Then a circular red trail went toward the monster that Haseo and Rainbow Dash were attacking. The monster knocked Haseo and Rainbow Dash down; Rainbow Dash was surprised that it didn't hurt when she was hit and got back up. It was at that moment that Twilight uttered the phrase, "OrGan Bolg!", and several small boulders and one large boulder rose up from the ground, taking a chunk out of the red gauge and attacked the monster. Haseo and Rainbow Dash got up when it happened and completely depleted the red gague after a few more hits breaking it's shell and leaving it vulnerable. Soom The monster's HP-gauge hit zero, turned black, and disappeared, only one remained.

"Whoa! Twilight, how did you do that?" Wondered Rainbow Dash.

"I just used a skill, like Haseo told me to. I just thought about opening the menu, going to the skill window, and selecting a skill to use. It happened." Replied Twilight, trying to explain it to her in the simplest form possible.

"I didn't really get all of it, but I'll try it!" She too thought about accessing the menu, and it worked. She accessed her own skill menu, and found that she had nothing under the 'healing/support' tab, nor the 'attack spells' tab. So she checked the arts tab, and saw a total of six skills. She selected one, and she felt a sensation that made her feel like she was about to take off for flight. Taking the chance, she lunged at the remaining monster and shouted "Whirlwind!"; slashing at the beast five times before finishing it off with a miniature energy blast from her swords. After that Rainbow Dash felt like she had all the power in The World even if Haseo had more experience fighting than her. "That was awesome! So that was a skill huh? I want to do so much more of these!" She said, pumped. The group later finished off the last one with regular attacks, and Twilight learned that her book didn't do nearly as much damage as Rainbow's dual swords or Haseo's scythe. But regardless, it turned black and disappeared like the other one. Afterwards, The party dispelled their weapons. More questions from the girls followed.

"So, Haseo, what happens after we defeated these monsters?" Asked Twilight.

"Well, you get experience points whenever you defeat an enemy party. When you collect 1000 points, your level increases so you can go to higher level areas and face stronger monsters to gain more experience, items, GP, and so on. When you beat monsters with levels higher than yours, you get more experience." He responded.

"Hey, how come Twilight can use magic and I can't." Asked Rainbow Dash.

"She's a shadow warlock, she can use spells naturally. You're a twin blade, so you can't." Responded Haseo.

"Shadow warlock? What does that mean?" Wondered Twilight. For a few seconds she wondered if the 'shadow' part of it meant that she had an evil power deep within her that would soon awaken and destroy everything, but she quickly dismissed the thought, deeming it too ridiculous.

"It's one of the jobs a player can have in The World. Shadow warlocks are experts in attack magic. But they can use other types of magic too."

"And what about me?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"You're a twin blade, they have high agility, and a variety of arts."

"So I've still got my speed even in The World!" She said, enthusiastic."

Twilight was thinking about the past couple minutes. She thought the violence portion of the game was pointless and dangerous. But she could see the appeal, and that Rainbow Dash liked it. They trekked on, as the blue wall that formed around them when the fight started and the yellow barrier that blocked their path disappeared. It was a straight hallway leading to another similar-looking room, with more monsters, and another blocked path. The group dealt with them the same way as the last time. After the barrier disappeared, they went forward again. They learned that the blue wall that surrounded them durring their fight was called the 'battle-fence', avoided buzzsaw traps and floor spikes, opened treasure chests and broke containers to get items, and gained a couple of levels. Eventually, they got to a room that was slightly different from the ones before, no monsters or breakable containers. When they looked to their rights, they saw a wide hallway. They walked to it and saw a statue of what looked like a large beast with a treasure chest at the base.

"Well, we're finally here." Said Haseo.

"Where? Asked Twilight."

"The beast statue, it contains an item that a player can equip."

"Wow, can I open it?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Go ahead." He responded. She walked up to the chest, and opened it.

"By the way, what's your job, Haseo?" Asked Twilight.

"I'm an adept rogue. I can use multiple weapons, but never be as good with them as the actual job."

"Oh, I get it, jack of all trades, master of none, right?"

"Yeah. The weapons I can use are dual swords, a broadsword, and a scythe."

"When did you get the scythe?"

"Job extension quest."

"And this also changed your clothes?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Haseo. Here, take this. I can't use it." Rainbow Dash gave him the item that she got out of the chest. It was a blade, a weapon normally used by blade brandiers and adept rogues who could use blades but he also couldn't equip it. He thought to sell it at the shop. "Think of it as a present for teaching us how to play."

"...Okay. Let's head back to town." He said back. His party did just that, going to the nearby platform. They warped away in the blue rings, and back to Dol Dona.

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Silabus's party

Silabus and his party went to a shrine dungeon. It looked like an old temple primarily red, with screens and everything. It also had many different rooms and hallways. Rarity spent the first few minutes taking in the unique architecture.

"Well, here we are." Said Silabus.

"This looks simply amazing! who designed this, Silabus?" Asked Rarity.

"The CC Corp, you know, the company that made the game."

"O-oh, yes, I had forgotten about that." She lied, still uneasy.

"So, what're we doing here again?" Asked Applejack.

"I'm here to remind you about the basics of playing The World, remember?"

"Oh... uh, right, yeah." Applejack seemed less uneasy, and more agitated about their current situation.

"Anyway, does the term dungeon ring any bells."

"Yes, if you count the ones they use to imprison."

"That's one type of dungeon, and there's this type of dungeon. Where players go on adventures to fight monsters or get items. Let's go find some." Said Silabus. He led them to a room with branching paths, and where there was a turret thing with a wheel and a gun on its head two other montsers that looked like dragons, a treasure chest in one corner, and a bucket of some sort. "Great, we found some! So, you two ready?" He asked the girls in his party.

"You mean you want us to fight?" Asked Rarity, concerned.

"Of course, that's the way you get better at the game."

"Well I think it sounds outright barbaric to be fighting in these clothes!" She moved her hands for emphasis. "I need something better suited for roughing."

"There's nothing we can do about it right now, Rarity. Now I ain't comfortable with this either, but we just have to tough it out, alright?" Asked Applejack.

"...Oh alright! But whn we're done I'm changing out of this!" Said Rarity in submission.

"Have it your way." Said Applejack, rolling her eyes.

"Applejack, would you like the honor?" He asked her.

"Well, I guess I could try." She responded. She also saw a reticle on one monster. She hesitated at first, but then she remembered that it was just a game. thought about what she could do to 'surprise' them. "Hey! Over here!" She waved her arms around trying to get their attention. But they didn't respond in any way, shape, or form. They just idly moved

"Applejack, they can't hear you. Surprises don't work like that; you have to attack them." Said Silabus.

"Attack them? How am I supposed to do that?"

"Let me show you." Silabus drew his sword and lunged at the turret based monster. The battle-fence formed around them as well. The two girls initially didn't know what to do, but were instructed by Silabus to draw their weapons. They initially didn't know how, but Rarity had a hunch, the way she saw Silabus make his sword appear in his hand and thought to do something similar to that. She moved her arms to make it look like she was holding a weapon and focused on it. She saw a flash, and it appeared, a staff, called Spell Ji Yi. She then thought to instruct Applejack.

"Applejack, focus on summoning whatever you use as a weapon, like I did!" Said Rarity. "Just focus."

"Well, okay then." Responded Applejack. She too focused on a weapon and she got the same result. What appeared in her hands was a large sword about the same size as the one Haseo used back in Equestria. A broadsword, called Broad Sheaf.

"Hey, you guys, I could use some support!" Shouted Silabus, pleadingly.

"Right." Said the girls in unison.

"Rarity, focus on healing, Applejack, help me fight!"

"You got it, I guess." Replied Applejack, getting into a fighting position, running toward a monster to help out Silabus. Rarity was busy trying to figure out how to support them. She had another hunch, if she focused on healing Silabus, it would happen.

She focused, and she felt a sensation, she suddenly moved her right arm and her staff up into the air and shouted, "Repth!" sending a flow of energy toward Silabus, restoring his HP by 100 points.

"Thanks." He said to Rarity. She then understood what she had to do; keep supporting the party while they fought.

"Applejack, Rarity just used the 'skill-trigger' do you remember that?" Asked Silabus.

"No." Responded Applejack.

"Basically, it allows you to quickly access your skills." He explained. "You just press the R1 button to access it. Let me show you." He turned toward a monster, a yellow flash came from him and he used a skill on one of the two flying dragons, which were called Sea Tridents. "Lateral Moon!" He shouted, slashing at it. The flying monster fell down to the floor with the blue gauge below it's HP gauge depleted, and Applejack and Silabus found that they were doing more damage to it after that. "Now you try it." He suggested to Applejack.

(Okay Applejack, you may not have one of his video game watchamacallits, but you can still do this.) She thought to herself as she tried to think of what to do. She tried focusing on accessing the skill-trigger, and it worked. She felt a sensation that felt like she was charging, and she saw a set of four panels, each with a name on it, supposedly the names of skills. She selected one by trying the focusing method, and she felt another sensation. It compelled her to charge at a monster. She did so and shouted, "Shell Breaker!" She pierced a monster with her broadsword, swung it backwards into the ground, and brought it back up to strike the monster from beneath it, going in a circle and damaging it. Applejack was surprised after doing this. She felt like she had bucked an apple tree until she fell down. It was such a rush for her. And the resulting damage made it look like it would die in just a few more hits. So she swung at it, and then she slammed her broadsword into the ground, creating a small shockwave. The monster faded to black and disappeared. There were two left to go and Silabus was already working on the other Sea Trident.

"Excellent! Getting the hang of the skill-trigger again?" He asked.

"Yeah... I guess so." Replied a nervous Applejack. She then turned her attention to the turret-based one with a gun. She swung her sword, and saw that the red gauge below it's HP gauge decreased when she hit it, and it's HP decreased very little. She thought to decrease the red gague first since it was depleting faster than it's HP. After a few more hits it depleted completely; it's armor broke, revealing the weaker interior. She and Silabus team attacked it for a faster kill, while Rarity learned that she also has a few attack spells, only two though. Their combined efforts, and the newly learned 'Rengeki' made quick work of the machine. The last one, was the other Sea Trident. They took care of this one as well, once again with little trouble. When they were done, they learned of experience points, GP, and items. They continued, the room had two different pathways to choose from. They went to the one that went downward. But it was blocked by a metal door that seemed to split in two when opened. In between the two pieces was a circular red light. Applejack walked up to it and tried to open it. She noticed no knobs or locks on the door. So she tried pushing it and using her broadsword, and it didn't work.

"Applejack, stop it. Youn can't open a door with brute force. You need to open it in a different manner." Said Rarity.

"Actually-"

"Then what do you think we should do?" Said a frustrated Applejack, interrupting Silabus as he was about to say something.

"Well, simply knocking on the door is the most polite thing to do in times like this." Continued Rarity, doing just that. NO response came from the other side. She knocked again, and this time her face changed to one of frustration, much like Applejacks. She knocked harder an faster. "Hello! Is somebody there?!" She shouted, continuing her seemingly hopeless efforts to open the door. "If you don't open this door right now, I will-"

"Hey, Rarity?" Said Silabus.

"What is it?!" She shouted at him.

"That's not the way to open the door either. Do you remember what Chim Chims are?"

"No, what's that?"

"Chim Chims are creatures that, when kicked, drop Chim Spheres. We use these chim-spheres to open certain types of doors." He explained. "If you look over there, you can see them." He pointed to the wall opposite of where they were standing. And sure enough, the girls saw tiny purple creatures that were carrying small blue spheres on the tops of their bodies, like flames on candlesticks, were moving on a shelf extending from the wall; "You can't notice it from here, but they actually have faces."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And you can see them right now. Follow me." He led them to the wall where the Chim Chims were. He then walked up to a metal thing with a green button that said "ON", connected to jets that were attached to the wall where the chim chims were walking. He proceeded to kick the button, it turned red and steam came out of the jets on the wall. The steam knoked there Chim Chims off the wall and onto the floor. Applejack and Rarity upon further inspection, found that they did in fact have faces, with white eyes and white w-shaped smiles. Silabus then proceeded to kick one of them, and the blue sphere flew off of it and absorbed into Silabus.

"Silabus! Why would you do that to such adorable little things?!" Asked Rarity, confused and somewhat angry at the green clad blade brandier.

"Kicking them is the only way to aquire Chim Spheres, which are used to open Chim Doors." He explained to her, hoping to put her fears to rest. He was also confused about her lack of knowledge about the game. He thought if she had been playing long enough to be at the level she is now, she should know about all of this. The only way she should be at this level and not know, is if she was playing since this game was first released, and didn't play again until today; that's the conclsion he reached. "Would you two mind going after the others?" He asked them, dismissing his thoughts for the moment.

"Wha-I would never-" Rarity was about to argue with Silabus, but...

"Rare, relax. It's just a game." Whispered Applejack in Rarity's ear after quickly walking up and silencing her. "Do you want to confuse him even more than you already have? Look I'm not comfortable with this whole thing either and he may find out anyway. But we just have to deal with it for now. Alright?"

"...Fine, but after this I'm, leaving the kicking of anything to you and Silabus. Or Haseo, or anypony else for that matter." Whispered Rarity back.

"Alright. And remember to say every_one_, not every_pony_." Advised Applejack. The two proceeded to chase after the short creatures. After a few seconds they successfully kicked them and the Chim Spheres flew toward Silabus as he absorbed them as well. He then proceeded to walk toward the door and the light turned green. The door split into two and the two halves moved into the wall and their path was no longer blocked. But before they

"By the way, do you two see a map on the upper-left corner of you screen?" He asked them.

"Well now that you mention it, yes, there is." Replied Applejack. The map was vague looking as some areas were dark, which meant that those areas were unexplored.

"And now...?" The girls wondered what he meant by that. But when they looked at there maps again they saw that the dark spots were gone, everything was clear, and some icons were revealed to them.

"Wha-what happened to it? Silabus, what did you do?" Inquired Rarity.

"I used an item called a Fairy's Orb. They reveal everything about the map to you upon usage. But it's a consumable item, meaning you can only use it once, so you have to purchase more of them. This is why GP is important." He explained.

"I see..." Said Rarity. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." Said Silabus politely. "Now let's go!" He led them downwards, to a room containing a treasure chest, more paths to go to, and another group of enemies. After dispatching them they went both ways and found more enemies, which were also taken care of. The girls saw that they gained a level. They went back upwards to go to the next area in the dungeon. Along the way they found a room with floor panels so hot they could cause a pony to get third-degree burns, which they were lucky to avoid. Silabus also informed the two of their classes; Applejack was an edge punisher and Rarity was a harvest cleric. Eventually they cleared out the second area of the dungeon and encounted a new type of enemy, Onlin Packs, squishy yellow things that looked too cute to be monsters. Soon they arrived at the beast statue. This one looked like to lion-like gods were holding a crest at the sides, while a treasure chest was at the base of it.

"Well, that was a good adventure." Said Silabus. "What did you think?"

"Well... it certainly was a rather refreshing experience, to say the least." Lied Rarity.

"Would either of you like to open the chest?" He asked them.

"Uh, okay, sure." Said Applejack. She walked up to the chest and proceeded to open it. Inside of it, was an accessory. The statue of the gods and crest then dissapeared.

"So, what did you find?" Asked Rarity curiously.

"Something that I don't know what to do with." Replied Applejack.

"You could sell it to an NPC shop, or you could equip it and customize it to your liking." Said Silabus.

"And what does that do?"

"When an item isn't a rare item, you can customize it and gain abilities from it. You can do the same with weapons and armor." He explained.

"How interesting" (I should really use this concept sometime when I'm creating a new line). Said Rarity, thinking.

"I hope the basics of the game are fresh in your minds now. And don't hesitate to send me an email if you have any questions. Or you could also just read the manual." Explained Silabus, to be helpful.

"We are in your debt, Silabus." Said Rarity, slightly blushing. "I hope to see you again someday."

"Yeah, thanks a bunch, Silabus." Said Applejack.

"No problem." Said Silabus. "Now, let's head back to town." He led them to the nearby platform and they warped back to Dol Dona.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Gaspard's party

Gaspard's party warped into a grassy field, surrounded by sand, surrounded by water; it was assumed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, that they were on an island of some sort. And the sun was setting like the area was programmed. Further away from the water, they saw beautiful mountains, heightned by the sunset, the only word to describe the scenery was breathtaking. They were surrounded by altars with chests on them, guarded by monsters; Sea Tridents and mecha ones that looked like scorpions on wheels, which were called Hash Chases. How the CC Corp. came up with the names for some of these monsters was beyond most of the players in the game if not all of them. "Okay! Bringing two intermediates to the field!" Said Gaspard enthusiastically.

"I'm ready when you are Gaspard! Woohoo!" Said Pinkie Pie, jumping for joy.

"Um, I hope I'm not a burden to anyone... and I hope you all have fun..." Said Fluttershy, nervous.

"Oh relax, Fluttershy. It's only just begun! Don't worry, I'll help you out!" Said Gaspard reassuringly. The party started moving toward a nearby altar to fight some monsters and collect the treasure, but...

"Wait!" They heard three voices call for them in unison; just behind them. They looked and saw three beast players about Gaspard's height. All wearing similar-looking white and green clothes. In fact they were all wearing the same clothes, almost like uniforms. They assumed they were all in a party as well.

"Starting a long day of fighting and wounds! We're here to heal you!" Said the one on the right, named Agnes. "Medic Union! Here's a shot, straight from the heart!" He cast a spell on them.

"Changing sparkling bravery to rejuvenation!" Said the one in the midde, named MSF. "Break open the door to tomorrow! We! Are the Medic Union! We are here to help, meow!" He too cast a spell on them.

"Starting a long day of fighting and wounds! We're here to heal you!" Said the one on the left, named Telese. "Medic Union! Here's a shot, straight from the heart!" He casted a spell on them as well, and then another.

"Medical exam complete!" They shouted, warping away. Fluttershy was surprised at this gesture and didn't know what to think of it. She silently thanked them for their kindness and willigness to assist them. But she was unnerved about the 'fighting and wounds!' part of their speech.

"Hey look at our stats! They're higher now!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, psyched after somehow learning to check her status window.

"Um, Gaspard, what happened just now?" Asked Fluttershy.

"Those players were part of the Medic Union guild. A group of players deticated to healing other players and prepping them for adventuring." He explained.

"That's very nice of them." She said.

"Hey! Look! Over there!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Gaspard looked and saw something dark grey in color, lying on the ground within what looked like a small crop circle. "There's something lying on the ground!" She ran towards the dark grey shape out of curiosity, Fluttershy and Gaspard followed. Fluttershy gasped in fear and covered her mouth with her hands at what she saw; a small metallic creature with a tail, red hands and stubby red feat, a red line around it's waist, resembling a belt, and a metallic sedge-hat on it's head, on top of it was a gold-colored key like the kind you would find on wind-up toys.

"Oh my goodness!" Said Fluttershy, kneeling down in fear. "What happened to you...?"

"CHIM SPHERE, PLEASE! OINK!" It said to her in a rather squeaky voice.

"So you're hungry. Okay, w-where can I find Chim Spheres?" She asked it, but it gave no response to her, it just lay there, motionless.

"Hey! Mecha Grunty needs our help!" Said Gaspard, walking up to it.

"So it's called a Mecha Grunty?" Wondered Fluttershy.

"Yep! And we can help it, by giving it Chim Spheres." Explained Gaspard. He held out his hand and gave it Chim Spheres. It quickly hot into an upright position with the key on it's head turning around three times, as did it's head after it got to it's feat. It was shown to resemble a pig smewhat, and that it had a collor-ish thing on it and a clock on it's stomach.

"O-INK, THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME, OINK!" Said Mecha Grunty. It moved it's arms upward to it's head, wing-like things came out of it's back, and took toward the sky, like a rocket. Ater roughly four seconds of flying up, there was a small explosion and they saw it fly off to the side and out of sight. A text box appeared saying: "it seems to have crashed, but not in this area." And then, "Something is falling." And Gaspard recieved an item called a revive rain, which restired all allies' HP by 200 points each.

"Oh my, I hope he's okay..." Said Fluttershy.

"Here, Fluttershy. You can use this." Gaspard gave her the revive rain he recieved from Mecha Grunty.

"A-are you sure? I mean it's yours, isn't it?" She asked him.

"Don't worry about it, you'll need it." He said to her.

"Well, thank you Gaspard." Said Fluttershy. "By the way, do you what other kinds of grunties there are?"

"Yeah, there's one at Canard's Home. You can come with Haseo, Silabus, and I sometime and see him if you like."

"That sounds wonderful, thank you, Gaspard." She said smiling.

"Come on, you guys! Let's go! Adventure is awaiting us!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, running toward an altar with a Hash Chase and two Sea Tridents.

"H-hey! Wait for us!" Shouted Gaspard, running after her along with Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie drew some kind of sword, pointed it at the Hash Chase and a shot rang out as some sort of magical, bullet thing came out of Pinkie's sword, or rather, bayonet, called Gun Bead, and hit the Hash. Damaging it, and causing the battle-fence to form around them. Gaspard made his grimoire appear and Fluttershy reached out to one of them in an attempt to tame it. It swungi t's wheeled legs at her, which had some kind of sharp tentacle-ish claws on it. She avoided it, but was left surprised. She was stunned, other than her first Grand Galloping Gala, no animal has ever resisted her attempts to calm them down. She tried it again, and once again failed; this time she was hit, yet felt no pain as a result.

"What are you waiting for, Fluttershy?! Draw!" Shouted Pinkie pie, using the skill, "Sphere Bullet!" on one of the Sea Tridents, depleting it's blue gauge and knocking it down to the ground.

"Fluttershy, it's just a game, they're programmed to attack you." Said Gaspard, blocking an attack.

"But there has to be a way to calm them down."

"Fluttershy, it's not going to kill you if you attack them." Said Pinkie Pie. "Well, in a tabletop rpg you could die, but it doesn't affect you at all! I mean just look at me, I've been hit by these creepy things but you don't hear me complaining."

"She's right, Fluttershy, you don't feel pain here. And besides, the CC Corp. can always make more of them if they want to." Explained Gaspard. Fluttershy then remebered that it all was an online game, nothing more. "And even if you do get knocked out, I can revive you." He said, trying to reassure her.

"Um, okay, I'll try..." Said Fluttershy, still a little nervous about fighting. She tried to draw something she could use to defend herself. Surprisingly, a weapon appeared to her, a scythe, called Scythe Hook. Not the kind of weapon she or Pinkie Pie were expecting her to have. She tried to get into a fighting stance, and attempted to attack one of the monsters. It hit, and the beast took some damage, and it was finished off like that. At first Fluttershy was horrified, she thought she was TOO strong, and killed it in one swing. But then it came to her that Gaspard and Pinkie had severly weakened it. Soon all of the monsters were finished and the fight ended. After they dispelled their weapons, Gaspard proceeded to try and talk to Fluttershy about the fight.

"Hey, is something wrong, Fluttershy? You didn't look like you wanted to fight them." Wondered Gaspard.

"Oh, no, it's fine... there's nothing to worry about, Gaspard." Replied Fluttershy, somewhat melancholily.

"...I don't know..." Said Gaspard scratching his head in disbelief.

"She doesn't really like attacking other creatures, like at all." Explained Pinkie Pie. Gaspard's bewildered look intensified, as he wondered how she got to that level, as the only way to have gotten where she was would be that she had...

"Don't worry about it! By the end of this adventure you'll never have to leach of of other players again!"

"L-leach of other players? What does that mean?"

"It means you get experience and GP for watching other players fight."

"Oh, no, I'm not a leach. It's just that I'm kind of scared of what will happen to those poor things..." She said refering to the monsters.

"Scared? There's nothing to be scared of, Fluttershy! Me and Pinkie will help you, we'll protect you with our lives!" Said Gaspard, determined. "Right?" He turned to Pinkie Pie.

"Of course, no party member is going to feel down on my watch! Physically or mentally!"

"...Thank you, you two." Said Fluttershy, with newfound confidence. The party continued their adventure, defeating more monsters, avoiding the traps inside of trap chests... except one time where Pinkie Pie couldn't do it and the guns inside of the chest shot her. But all she did was laugh at her mistake, and considerable loss of HP that Gaspard had to heal. Fluttershy also got used to the combat. And in one instance, something incredible happened to Fluttershy while they were walking around the area. She saw what looked like a cat, a red one with bunny-like ears. Fluttershy was ecstatic to see another animal besides the monsters that she was still somewhat reluctant to fight. She quickly ran toward the red cat-like creature hoping to interact with it in a very Fluttershy-ish way. She got a more clear picture as she got closer to it, seeing that it had light-pink patterns on it's cheeks, body and tip off tail, yellow sclera, and red eyes.

"Aw, just look at him! He's so cute." She said to the creature. "So, what kind of cat are you?" She asked it.

"That's a Malice Cat, an unlucky animal." Said Gaspard.

"Malice? That's not a very nice thing to say about such a sweet little thing." Said Fluttershy in rebuttal.

"Sweet little thing? Fluttershy, it'll cut your HP and SP in half if you don't kick it fast enough! The last time that happened, I was almost beaten by monsters..."

"I'm sorry you were beaten, but that's what you get for kicking her in the first place! Why would you even want to kick her?"

"In The World, there are beings called Lucky Animals. When you kick them, they give you bonuses." He explained. "But _Un_lucky Animals, will hinder you if you don't avoid kicking them-wait, 'her'?"

"Yes, just don't kick it, and you'll be fine, right? Besides, why would anybody want to kick Scarlet?"

"...Scarlet? You named it?"

"Yes. And Scarlet's not an 'it', Scarlet's a she."

"Uh, how can you tell?" He wondered.

"She's an expert on animals. One time she even handled a three-headed-!" Pinkie Pie was cut off by Fluttershy, who told her not to talk about Equestria in front of Haseo's friends.

"Um... okay. So, let's go! To the boss!" He led them to the area's boss. Some areas had beast temples, which required the collection of symbol fragments from chests to open a door, others had bosses to fight, which gave you experience, and an item. The boss in this area was the boss for all areas levels 81-90 with boss missions. Dardeus was it's name; it was purple in body color, had fiery-colored, demonic-looking claws, and spikes along it's legs and the length of it's body. It also had what seemed to look like three crooked horns on it's head, and even had wings. Overall it looked very much like a dragon. Because of this, Fluttershy immediately cowered behind Pinkie Pie and Gaspard at the mere sight of it. She was panicking and desperately clutching to Pinkie's arm, her newfound confidence already lost.

"Um, is something wrong, Fluttershy? You don't seem so hot." Asked Gaspard.

"Oh, she's scared of dragons. Been that way for a really long time now." Exp

"What was that? I didn't get what you were saying." Said Gaspard.

"Oh, uh... it's nothing, absolutely nothing." Replied Pinkie, nervously, practically giving away abnormality. Gaspard decided not to press them about it. Pinkie Pie launched another surprise attack, this time on Dardeus. They now familiar battle-fence appeared, and they drew their weapons and prepared for battle. Pinkie Pie charged straight ahead and attacked it with her bayonet. Gaspard cast the spell Ani Zot on it, since it was weak to darkness attacks and spells. Fluttershy just hung back in fear of it because of what she thought it was. Despite Pinkie Pie and Gaspard's attempts to get her to help them take it down, she continued to stand their practically frozen in fear. Dardeus just kept attacking them with it's mouth, claws, and laser breath, which Gaspard had to heal. This time it attacked by slamming it's claws into the ground, and a brutal shockwave hit Pinkie Pie and Gaspard as they were attacking it, causing them to take a chunk of damage.

"Fluttershy! We need your help!" Yelped Gaspard.

"I-I can't it's just too scary...!" Said Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie's sudden outburst surprised her. "Remember what I told you?" She asked, blocking an attack.

"Um... no..." She lied, rather obviously.

"I said no party member is going to feel down! Not while I'm around! I don't want you to look or feel sad, okay

"Oh... you're right, I can't just sit back and watch while my friends are left to fend for themselves! Okay, I'm joining in!" Said Fluttershy, regaining her newfound confidence.

"Now that's the spirit, Fluttershy!" Said Pinkie, enthusiastically, while using the skill "Tempest Blast!", damaging Dardeus. a little bit. Fluttershy also joined in the battle, but she was still reluctant to do so because of her fear of dragons, which Dardeus very much resembled. Despite that though, she was damaging it, and even got the hang of using skills. After a while, the boss only had a bit less than half of it's HP left. But Gaspard's SP was mostly spent on healing, and being a shadow warlock, her couldn't use healing spells as well as a harvest cleric. So he only had a quarter of his original SP left. He would have to rely on items for healing. He used a Sprite Rain to heal the party's SP by 50 points each and refocused his SP into attack magic, while the other two attacked it with arts. Soon Dardeus was on it's last legs, a few more skills from them and it would be finished. In the end, it was Fluttershy who delivered the finishing blow to the beast, after she got angry at it for nearly knocking them out and interrupting their attacks with it's laser breath. A side to Fluttershy that Pinkie Pie had only seen a few times in her life. after defeating it, gaining enough experience to increase their level by one, and getting an item out of the boss, a Thunder Deer Hoof (an accessory for a weapon that adds light element to regular attacks), Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy reflected on this adventure.

"That was the best 'First Adventure In The World' Party EVER! I can't wait to see what comes next!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, still enthusiastic as ever. "What did you think, Fluttershy?"

"Well... it was... really scary at first, but I had you there to help me get through, thank you." Said Fluttershy, "You too Gaspard, thank you for your time..."

"No problem! Just message me, Silabus, or Haseo if you have any questions."

"Oh, I have one question!" Said Pinkie Pie, raising her hand as if she was still a grade-schooler.

"Okay, what is it?" Wondered Gaspard.

"Are there any other players out here?"

"Well, those players from the Medic Union already left. But there could still be other players out there. Th-they might be PKs! C-c'mon let's get out of here~!" He quickly led them to the nearest platform and they warped back to Dol Dona. Yet Pinkie Pie was still quite suspicious...

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I was busy with school stuff, but I'll have a lot more time to spend writing now. Please tell me what you think. This was also an exceptionally difficult chapter to write.


	4. First Match

Chapter 3 First Match

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

After the girls were taught the basics of playing the game, they warped back to Dol Dona. First it was Haseo's party, then Silabus's, then Gaspard's. Pinkie Pie was still smiling, Fluttershy was still a little bit scared from fighting the dragon-like monster, Rarity felt the need to change her outfit, Twilight was satisfied with the new information she gained about The World, Rainbow Dash felt pumped, and Applejack was also surprised. Of course they had experience fighting, but never like this. They only had to actually fight up close like they did just now was during the changeling attack at Canterlot.

"That was so awesome!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, much like she did when she was accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy.

"Did you have fun? Because I sure did! But this is a totally new kind of fun! The kind you can only find here. What should I call it...?" Said Pinkie Pie, enthusiastically thinking of the word to describe The World's kind of fun. The fun in just doing what your heart tells you. As was the main part of The World's appeal.

"Well, I guess that was better than some fancy schmancy dinner party in Canterlot." Said Applejack. "I bet you could really go for one of those right about now, huh, Rarity."

"Actually yes. I could use a break from all of this fighting. It makes me dizzy." Said Rarity, rubbing her head.

"Hey, you didn't really do any actual fighting! How could you be dizzy?"

"Well I supported you and Silabus when you were hurt! That counts as fighting, right, Silabus?"

"Uh, I guess so..." Said Silabus, thinking. "Plus, clerics are in pretty high demand, particularly for the arena."

"There's an arena here too? Sweet!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, earning her odd looks from Silabus and Gaspard. "Uh, hehehe, yeah..." She scratched her head in embarrassment.

[Rainbow Dash, remember to act natural.] Said Haseo, or so Rainbow thought until she saw his mouth wasn't moving.

[Whoa! Haseo, what's going on!?] She could here his voice in her head!

[I've started a private chat. When we talk in a chat, people can't eavesdrop on our conversation.] He explained.

[So, they can't hear us?] Inquired Rainbow Dash.

[No, not at all.] Answered Haseo.

[Okay. So, what was it you wanted me to do again?]

[I told you to act natural. You and the others need to be as believable as possible.]

[Okay, I'll try.]

[Good.] With that, he ended his private chat with Rainbow Dash.

"And, did you know, recently, Haseo became the emperor of the Holy Palace. Now our guild's really famous!" Said Gaspard, proud.

"E-emperor!?" Rarity was surprised, Haseo didn't really seem like the type who would rule. But Gaspard was a member of Haseo's guild, he would know if he was the emperor. "That's... amazing!"

"And your guild's famous because of that, huh?" Wondered Twilight. "Well, I guess that would make sense considering his position."

"Is the grunty in your guild famous too?" Asked Fluttershy.

"Well, I guess so." Answered Silabus. "Although most players would probably be put off by it."

"Put off? Why?" She wondered.

"Well, why don't we just show you." Offered Silabus. "Haseo, is it alright if they come?"

"I don't care." Responded Haseo, somewhat rudely. But not too rude that they wouldn't go.

"Okay, let's go!" Said Gaspard, exited. Haseo gave the girls guild keys, so they can enter Canard's HOME. He proceeded to lead the girls and his guild members to a warp point that led directly to the gate that led to all HOMEs for guilds that met certain requirements to get there. In Haseo's case it was winning the Demon Palace Tournament and becoming the Demon Palace emperor. After that, he gave it up and entered the Holy Palace Tournament as well, he consequently won and became the Holy Palace emperor. He gave the girls this information via private chat, clearing any misconceptions about Haseo being of royal blood. It gave Rainbow Dash the idea of entering the next tournament and defeating Haseo so _she_ could be the emperor.

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They arrived inside of Canard's Home, and the girls were surprised that Haseo had this little headquarters to go to whenever he wanted to. It was a pretty medium sized room with white pillars and a red carpet on the floor like the ones that movie stars would walk on, but wider and with an elaborate gold pattern on it. There were also various plants in the room, and three banners on the far wall of a different shade of red from the carpet. And at the end of it, standing on a red cushion bench, was a small pig-like creature with silver hair, red eyes, and black clothes. Almost immediately after witnessing it, a certain pink-haired girl ran up to it for reasons that apparently only she and the other girls knew of.

"Oh, my goodness! A real grunty!" Fluttershy knelt down in front of the creature. "He's so cute...! And he looks so much like Haseo. Is he your pet?" She asked Haseo.

"Like hell he is. He's such a pain in my-"

"Be nice..." Fluttershy sneered at Haseo, cutting him off as he was about to badmouth the adorably evil little thing that Haseo hated to no end. "So, what's your name?" She asked the creature that resembled Haseo.

"My name is Death Grunty of the Grunty Race! I'm the manager of this HOME! *oink* I'm also the guild master of Canard! *oink*. And Haseo is my servant *oink*."

"...Stupid pig!" Sneered Haseo.

It ran toward Haseo, jumped, and kicked him in the face, "I told you already! I'm not a pig! *oink* I'm a grunty *oink*!" and sneered back at his 'servant'. Haseo was bending over, rubbing his face in anger at the little demon-spawn.

"Huh? But I thought Haseo was the guild master." Said Applejack.

"I am." Said Haseo, getting back up.

"You see, when a player becomes a guild master, the grunty that serves as the mascot takes on the guild masters appearance and personality." Explained Silabus.

"All the way down to the core of your soul." Said Gaspard, making the girls a little bit afraid of what would happen if one of them became a guild master.

"...So, what happens now?" Asked Twilight.

"I don't know. Just do whatever you want." Replied Haseo.

"Well, there aren't any new quests to take right now. Looks like all we can do is log out and wait for stuff to happen really." Said Silabus.

"Or, we could raise our levels in preparation for the next tournament! I'm gonna beat you, Haseo, and become the emperor. Got that!?" Said Rainbow Dash, enthusiastic about her plans to best the Terror of Death. Unbeknownst to them, a certain girl had been watching them from near the entrance. She was blonde, wore a green dress, and a white hat on her head. She was curious about the identities of the six colorful female players in the guilds Home. She was actually a member of Canard herself and the most recent to join.

"Haseo." She said, scaring the young man in question a little bit. He turned to face her, with an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey, would you stop that!?" Said Haseo, his voice expressing his disdain for people sneaking up on him. "And how long have you been there anyway?"

"I just got here." Replied the girl, innocently. "Who are they?"

"They're just players we gave a refresher to."

"Really? Well, It's so nice to meet you all!" She said to the six female players in question, smiling kindly. "My name's Atoli. What are your names?" All six of them introduced themselves to the blonde harvest cleric in their respective fashions. Rarity making a polite introduction, Pinkie getting all exited about meeting another player, Applejack's absurdly strong handshake, etc.

"So you're not new players?"

"Errr... no. Why?" Asked Twilight, somewhat suspicious about the motives of this green clad girl.

"Oh, just wondering. You just look a little bit like new players by the way you're acting."

"Really?" Inquired Applejack.

"Well, you all seem a little... uneasy." Said Atoli.

"Well, it's been a long time since we've played... but you'll see!" Said Rainbow Dash to the green clad cleric.

"I'll see what, Rainbow Dash?" Wondered Atoli.

"I'll be the strongest, fastest player in The World before you can say 'hay'!" Said Rainbow Dash, enthusiastically.

"Well, good luck to you!" Said Atoli, in the sweetness that used to annoy the hell out of Haseo. "Well, Haseo, I'm going to log out. Goodbye for now!" She disappeared into the familiar blue rings, and out of the game. At least until she logged in again and invited Haseo for another excursion or some other adventure.

"I'm gonna log out too." Said Haseo. "I'll see you later." With that he too disappeared into the blue light.

"Okay, girls, come on! We need to get stronger for the tournament!" Said Rainbow Dash, determined.

"And how do you plan on doing that, Rainbow?" Asked Twilight, skeptically.

"Eh... good question..." Replied the rainbow-haired twin blade, somewhat embarrassed. She turned to the brown-haired man, "Silabus, how do we do that?"

"Well, to start, it's recommended to have a team of three players in a fight. Going by yourself would put you at a disadvantage." Replied the blade brandier. "It's also a lot easier with a player that can use healing spells." The girl turned her head to the rest of her friends.

"Okay, I pick... Twilight and Fluttershy!" Said Rainbow Dash pointing her finger at the two players in question.

"W-what!? Y-you want me to f-fight...?" Said Fluttershy, surprised.

"And why should I, or any of us for that matter, help you win the tournament?" Asked Twilight, skeptically.

"Aw come on! It'll be awesome!" Rebutted Rainbow Dash. [Unless you don't want to send a good letter to Princess Celestia...] She continued, via private chat.

[Well... alright, fine. I'll fight in the arena.] Said Twilight, submitting to her friend. Rainbow dash turned to Fluttershy.

[Fluttershy. I need your help.] Said Rainbow Dash.

[Oh... I don't know. It sound's really, really scary.] Said the shy flick reaper, hesitant.

[Don't worry. Me and Twilight'll be there. And besides, getting hit in the game doesn't hurt you. You'll be fine.]

[...Okay, I'll try it. Just this once...] Said Fluttershy, also giving in, ungrudgingly.

[That's all I ask. Thanks.] Said Rainbow Dash, ending the chat with satisfaction. "Silabus, where can I find the arena?" She asked the green man.

"It's in Lumina Cloth, the root town for the **Ω** server. You can access it through the chaos gate like any other town." Explained Silabus, being helpful.

"Good luck!" Said Gaspard.

"Thanks guys." Said Rainbow Dash, inviting Twilight and Fluttershy to join her party, to which the latter players accepted. They left the Home, and warped to Dol Dona's chaos gate, to the Warring city, of Lumina Cloth.

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The party consisting of the brash, seven-colored twin blade, the smart, magenta shadow warlock, and the shy, spring-green flick reaper, were expecting a town that was more... primitive. A town with a huge coliseum made of stone in the distance, and a stone pathway leading directly to it. Instead, it was a well... luminous, colorful. And it was nighttime in this town for some reason. But it was daytime in Dol Dona, so they just stopped caring and called it game design. Modern-looking buildings were on the sides of a pathway with patterns on it, leading to a reception desk presumably for the arena. There was a large screen above it with Haseo's face on it, probably since he was the emperor.

"Pretty soon, that'll be my face that players are watching." Said Rainbow Dash, confident.

"Rainbow Dash, Haseo's going to be hard to beat. You know how strong he is." Said Twilight.

"Yeah, well they won't be calling him the Terror of Death. For long, Twilight. Just watch."

"But we have to win the tournament first, right?" Asked Fluttershy, knowing it would be a long road for her friend to become the emperor.

"Right. So let's go!" She ran ahead of her friends, eager to enter the tournament. The latter two members of her party ran to catch up to her. By the time they caught up to her, she had just finished registering for a battle. And coming up with a team name. 'Sonic Rain'. Deriving it from her iconic technique, and that it just sounded cool. They warped away, not even knowing who their opponent was.

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When they rematerialized, they ended up in a small room with two screens behind them on opposite sides of each other. The one to their left displayed their rank, while the one on the right, their opponent's level and class. They turned and looked at the two screens. The one to their left showed that their rank was dead last. But it was the one on the right that was more interesting. Their opponent's team consisted only one player. A level 83 blade brandier named 'Recht'. Just above their own levels.

"Hey, why is it just one player?" Wondered Twilight. "Silabus said going by yourself is disadvantageous."

"Well, I'm not complaining." Said Rainbow Dash. "It'll be an easy first victory!"

"I'm not so sure, Rainbow. If this 'Recht' person is going by itself, then 'Recht', must be extremely confident in his abilities. Oh, and speaking of which, we don't even know how to fight in the arena!"

"Oh, I'm sure we'll be fine! Twilight, you worry too much." Said Rainbow Dash, acting smug.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, girls... Our first fight, and we're facing someone strong enough to fight alone..." Said Fluttershy, nervously backing against the wall.

"Ugh, not, you too! Fluttershy, it's just one guy. Like Twilight said, he's at a huge disadvantage."

"Now I'll just feel bad if we actually win..." Said Fluttershy, now a little bit sad and concerned. Rainbow Dash, did a mental facepalm.

"So, you two ready?" Asked twilight.

"Yeah, of course!" Replied Rainbow Dash.

"I'll try my best...!" Said Fluttershy, bashful. Rainbow dash went to the warp point behind them, and warped away, toward their fight. Twilight and Fluttershy followed, a little bit nervous. But they warped into it, hoping for the best.

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The field was a small circular platform suspended in the air by the steam technology that The World uses, surrounded by rotating blue energy rings for some reason, hundreds of spectators, and three screens displaying these spectating players to the participants in each match. Then, the commentator spoke.

"NOW IS THE TIME FOR THE FESTIVITIES TO BEGIN!" He said, in his not-so-masculine voice. "WHERE IN THE WORLD DID THIS POWER COME FROM? HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS KIND OF STRENGTH POSSIBLE?" Asked the commentator as the girls warped into the arena for the very first time. "COME AND TAKE YOUR BREAKS IN THE ARENA!" The girls drew their weapons and got into fighting stances, to prepare for their enemy. "SLASH YOUR WAY TO THE TOP! THIS IS A WORLD FOR THE BEST RANKERS OUT THERE! ENLIGHTEN US WITH YOUR SPLENDID TECHNIQUES!" He said as the opposition warped in on the opposite side. A young man looking a little bit taller than Haseo, wearing a black poncho and white clothes. His eyes and hair were both indigo. "JUST LOOK AT THEM FOLKS! READY TO RIP INTO THEIR OPPONENT AT THE DROP OF A PEN! HOW WILL THIS FIGHR END? NOBODY KNOWS!" The crowd cheered for the combatants, both the girls and the man known as Recht. Recht drew his weapon, a simple blade rank, and got into his own fighting position. The match began, and the crowd cheered for both sides again. This made Fluttershy somewhat nervous, but she knew things would be fine. After all, she had friends to help her through it. Her looked changed, now she seemed a little bit more confident, but her nervousness still outweighed it by a large amount. Recht started with a skill, 'razor's edge', and it was directed at Rainbow Dash. He lunged at his rainbow-haired opponent. Rainbow Dash blocked it in time, and her teammates had ran off to get a strategic advantage. She still received damage from the skill. More than she thought she would.

"Chaotic Strike!" She then used her own skill on the enemy player, which he also managed to block. After that, seemingly unbeknownst to Recht, Twilight, was beginning to cast a spell on him.

"Duk Lei!" She shouted attempting to poison him. But to their surprise, Recht managed to attack Twilight mid-skill with one of his own. Twilight received a noticeable amount of damage and was knocked down. But she got back up and tried to cast another spell. This time it was an attack. "Zan Rom!" She shouted, casting wind magic, which created a small whirlwind. The attack connected. But it was blocked as well. [Fluttershy, you need to attack him while Rainbow Dash and I distract him. Try using a skill.] She said to her shy friend, via chat.

[But, Twilight, what if something happens?] Asked Fluttershy.

[Like rainbow Dash said. We're here. You don't need to worry about this. Besides, he can't possibly handle all three of us at once. When I see an opening, use a skill.]

[...Okay...] The chat ended as Twilight informed Rainbow Dash of their plan, also via chat. Afterwards it officially began. Rainbow Dash ran towards their opponent and started slashing at him. Twilight did the same thing, even though her grimoire was significantly weaker than her friends' dual swords and scythe. Their opponent still had his guard up, so any regular attacks he took didn't affect him. Secretly, Twilight was building up a charge attack, which would knock his guard down and give Fluttershy an opening to use a skill at the same time. Her plan worked. She released the charge attack, which sent Recht flying toward the battle fence. The actual attack damaged him little, but the hitting the fence part took significantly more of his HP. She signaled Fluttershy to use a skill. So was done. Fluttershy lunged at their opponent and shouted "Lotus Flower!" as she used said skill, hitting him him into the air and delivering a spinning slash to his PC. It damaged him and allowed Twilight an opportunity to use 'Duk Lei' again to poison him. This time, he was successfully poisoned and his HP started slowly diminishing. Rainbow Dash then used another 'Chaotic Strike' The odds seemed to be in their favor now. They always had the advantage, but he was strong enough to fight on his own. And it showed in the amount of HP the girls (not counting Fluttershy) had left. They had to end it soon. Twilight healed Rainbow Dash using 'Ul Repth' while Rainbow and Fluttershy ran around him to get an advantage. Recht started a skill directed to Rainbow Dash! Almost without thinking, Rainbow used her own skill, and countered it.

"Whirlwind!" She shouted, using said skill. Recht flew a few feet and his still poisoned state made his HP drop considerably since the beginning of the fight. The other two players in her party were surprised that she could do that. But they pushed that aside as they prepared to attack again...

"Stop." But a voice told them not to. Surprisingly, it was Recht's voice. It was the first time his voice was heard in the entire fight. "I see it now..." He turned his head up, "I give up. This fight is over." His voice was very calm and it seemed like he was completely comfortable with throwing the match. An event that almost never happens in The World.

"What!? You're giving up?" Asked the commentator, confused. "Well then, THAT'S THE MATCH! TEAM SONIC RAIN IS THE WINNER!" He shouted. After that, Recht almost immediately warped out of the arena. The girls did the same .Rainbow Dash wasn't complaining about winning in the way they did, but the other two wondered if they actually earned their victory.

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When the party warped back to Lumina Cloth, they were surprised to see Recht standing there, seemingly waiting for their arrival. "Hello, Ms. Dash, Ms. Sparkle, and Ms. Shy." He greeted them, politely, smiling, and in the same tranquil tone as before.

"Hello, Recht. What are you doing?" Greeted Twilight.

"Not much. Just standing here. Enjoying the sights." Replied Recht, looking out at the town, and all the players running around. "That was a fun fight, don't you think, Ms. Dash?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! How did you get so strong?" Replied Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, I have my ways." He replied.

"Oh, yeah-"

"Let me guess. Your wondering why I threw the match back there. Aren't you, Ms. Sparkle?" Asked Recht, cutting Twilight off.

"! Yes, actually, I am thinking about that." Replied Twilight.

"Well, my reasons are simple. I just wanted to fight you. Nothing more."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Asked Rainbow Dash, confused.

"Well, I read the forum and it mentioned how the Terror of Death was playing with a group of mysterious female players. I just had to see for myself what kind of players you were. And I'm rather impressed with your strength. But tell me, how do you know Haseo?"

"First of all, it shouldn't be surprising that we're strong. Second, well, I guess you could say we're friends. You know him?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Not personally, no. But there isn't a single player in the entire game who hasn't heard of him. They say he's a renegade PKK."

"Well, I guess he can be cold at times." Said Twilight.

"Hmmm... what do you think of Haseo, Ms. Shy?" He turned asked the shy one. She stayed silent, being who she was. "It's alright, you can trust me." He said to her. She looked at him for almost half a minute before coming out of her shell a little bit. Somehow, he did it.

"...Haseo's such a good person... he saved me once when I was really scared... and my friends too." Replied Fluttershy, with a small blush. "He's also suffered so much... I want to know if I can help him... somehow..."

"I see... would you tell Haseo I'd like to meet him at **Θ Hidden Forbidden Sacrament**, if you would be so kind." He asked them.

"Uh, sure." Said Twilight. "Why do you want to meet him?"

"There's something important I want to tell him."

"What do you want to tell him?"

"I can't tell you."

"What? Why not!?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"I just can't, or I'll lose my job... damn, I said too much. Look, I'll see you later okay?" He waved goodbye and walked away leaving them to speculate as to what this 'something important' and his 'job' was.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired after all that fighting. I think I'll go back home. What about you guys?"

"Well, I have a favor to do, so I'll stick around a little longer for now." Said Twilight.

"I think I'll go back home too, I'm sure Angel misses me..." Said Fluttershy.

"Okay, see you later Twilight!" Rainbow ran for the chaos gate, hoping to figure out how to get back to Equestria. Fluttershy and Twilight followed. The first two warped to Mac Anu to figure out how to get back to Equestria while the third went to Dol Dona to do her favor for Recht.

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Sorry I haven't updated for almost two months, I've had some stuff to deal with at home, and now school's starting again next month. But other than that I can write just fine. Please tell me what you think.


	5. Encounters

Chapter 4 Encounters

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Twilight arrived in Dol Dona to tell Haseo about the meeting mentioned in the favor Recht gave her back in Lumina Cloth. She planned to get that over with, take a quest, and write a letter to Princess Celestia about her research on The World. It was a simple plan, and hopefully it would please her mentor. After all, studying the workings of another world isn't exactly an easy task. Especially in regards to the online game: The World: R:2. Using her time wisely she figured out how to send Haseo an email telling him to meet her in Canard's HOME so she could tell him. She arrived at the entrance to Canard's HOME the quickest way possible (warp point) and saw her friend in demonic-looking black armor there as well.

"Oh, you're here. Great." She said to him.

"You said you wanted to tell me something important, right? Then let's go inside." Said Haseo.

"Yes, let's." They went inside so other players wouldn't be able to overhear them and consequently make plans to ambush Haseo. The chances were slim sure, since they all probably thought he was still level 133. That or they just knew of his skill as a player and somehow figured out that he de-leveled. Either way however, they didn't take the risk.

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Once inside Haseo's guild's HOME, they quickly went straight to the point with their conversation. Haseo turned around and asked Twilight the simplest question a person could possibly ask in this situation. "So, Twilight, what did you want to tell me?" He asked.

"Well, basically, a player wants to meet you at **Θ Hidden Forbidden Sacrament** to talk about something. I don't know the details of why, but he said it was something important and had to do with his job." She explained.

"What's the player's name?"

"His name is Recht. He was the player Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and I fought in the arena."

"Huh. And you agreed to the favor because...?"

"I was just doing what any other player would've done in that situation. Is that a problem?"

"A player could pk you at any time when your not in town y'know."

"Well of course it's possible. But he just seemed like a person we can trust."

"I don't know. You just met him, right?"

"Well, yeah you're right about that. But we haven't known you for very long either. But we trust you and you trust us. Right, Haseo?" Asked Twilight, thoughtfully smiling at the slightly scowling boy in black armor.

"...Whatever." He said to Twilight, in defeat.

"Well... anyway, good luck with that meeting." She bid him.

"Right." Said Haseo, walking out of the HOME, past the central part of town, and to the chaos gate. He entered the keywords to **Θ Hidden Forbidden Sacrament**, and warped away.

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Haseo warped into the area and walked forward a little bit. He started to reminisce. This area, known in The World's backstory as the Great Temple of Caerleon Medb, held a very special significance to the black clad adept rogue in more ways than one. For one, it was the area that he acquired his scythe, Ticking Death, one of the Lost Weapons, which embodied the lost power of Epitaph User characters. For his It was also the last area that he saw his good friend, Phyllo. He walked to the pedestal were his lost weapon once was; taking in the surroundings and reminiscing the battles he and his party members went through to get their Lost Weapons. After a few more seconds of waiting for the player he was supposed to be meeting, he heard a voice. A woman's voice. "Haseo, you're here." It was familiar to the adept rogue. He turned around to see a see a woman with revealing red clothing, pink hair tied into two large ponytails, and glasses. This woman was one of his colleagues. The Epitaph User for the seventh phase: Tarvos, the Avenger.

"Pi?" Said Haseo. "What are you doing here?"

"Recht had other things to take care of at the last minute in the real world. I'm here in his place." Replied Pi, maintaining her professionalism.

"So, what did he want to tell me?"

"Recht meant to give you information regarding the incident involving you a while back."

"You mean when I was trapped in The World?"

"Right. He's conducting an investigation into it. And what he found was... interesting."

"What?" Wondered Haseo, kinda curious himself seeing as how he saw it firsthand.

"Apparently whoever modified that area's coding lives in the same part of Tokyo as you."

"...Wait, how do you know I live in Tokyo?" He asked, suspicious.

"I believe Kuhn told you in one of his emails." Right. Haseo remembered in one of Kuhn's emails. He told him that Pi was probably using her admin rights to search for them. To Haseo it looked like she'd found them.

"Is it someone I know?" Inquired Haseo.

"I'm not quite sure. But it's possible."

"Is there any other info I should know about?"

"Yes. There is also a possibility that the hacker is currently playing the game on another account. Be on your guard and use your Avatar sparingly." Warned Pi, annoying Haseo somewhat with giving him warnings he didn't really need anymore.

A few seconds later, Haseo received notice of a new email from the typical message on his screen that was displayed should a new email arrive. He said his goodbyes to Pi and walked toward the platform in the center of the temple and warped back to Dol Dona. Since the only place you can log out in The World is in a town. Upon arriving in said town, he immediately logged out to check his inbox.

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Upon returning to the real world Ryou checked his email. He found only one new message. It was from Applejack. The subject was, 'Howdy Haseo'. Ryou checked it. It said:

_Howdy, Haseo. It was really fun, going on that first adventure. Albeit really dangerous and not something I'd want my sister to be in on hehehe... Do you want to go on a quest? It's called Hunter's Work. The others are either offline or busy. So I'm inviting you. I'll let you decide the third person to invite. See you there!_

_Applejack._

(A quest, huh? Well this is new. Let's invite Applejack and someone else, and take the Hunter's Work quest.) Ryou selected The World icon on his desktop and logged into the game again. For his first quest taken with a pony.

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When he logged back into The World, Haseo invited Applejack and someone else into his party. When said pony player arrived, she saw the other player Haseo had invited for this quest. The player looked like a girl, but she couldn't quite tell either way, and was rather short. She... or he, was dressed in purple and green harlequin-like attire with an exposed midriff, an oversized jester hat with sun and moon ornaments on the left and right sides respectively with the moon up and sun down, and red stripped leggings. This player also had blonde hair like she did, only slightly lighter in color, and dull pink eyes.

"Howdy, Haseo. Glad you could make it." Said Applejack, pleased that the adept rogue accepted her quest invitation. "Who's your friend?" The purple clad player standing next to Haseo began to speak.

"Um, My name is Bo. It's nice to meet you miss..." Said the player now known as Bo.

"Name's Applejack. Pleasure's mine, Bo." Said Applejack, recognizing Bo as being male. "You ready to go, Haseo? Bo?"

"Um, sure." Said Haseo, awkwardly.

"Yes ma'am." Said Bo, passively, almost as soft spoken as Fluttershy.

"Well let's go then, time's wasting!" Applejack ran toward the wooden gate that led to the town square, where all the NPC shops were. Haseo and Bo had to run after her. They walked through the gates and by the time they were at the other side, Applejack was already at the quest shop, waiting for the two with her arms folded. Haseo and Bo walked up to her, Haseo scowled slightly at the edge punisher with the hat, .she felt somewhat guilty, but not much. Putting the past minute and a half aside, Haseo walked to the quest shop receptionist NPC, registered his party, and received the area words for it: **Θ Anarchic Metallic Second Guess**.

"So you'll be taking this quest? Please wait a moment." Said the duck NPC who manages the quest shop. A moment later, a short NPC walked up to them that looked like the NPCs managing the shops in Mac Anu. It's arms (which were obscured by it's sleeves) were moving quite a bit as it approached the party.

"Okay, listen up." Said the NPC, being very brief with the party. "I received a tip from an anonymous man. He said criminals have gathered in a field and are planning to attack the town and it's inhabitants. I need you to find them, and stop them. Do whatever you can to complete your mission."

"Alright now, you boys think you can handle this quest?" She asked the two boys who were accompanying her.

"I've fought groups of players like this before. So I can do it again." Said Haseo, with confidence that one could mistake as arrogance.

"I'm not sure. But I'll try my best, Applejack!" Said Bo, cheerfully.

"Then let's get going! This quest isn't gonna complete itself." This time she just walked, allowing Haseo and Bo to catch up with her easier. They walked past the other players in Dol Dona that were going about their business as well. Planning their PKs, trading items, and a few were at the stands, selling items so that their guildmasters could get more money. Including Gaspard, who was selling items for Canard. Despite his habit of overpricing the items he presented, players thought he was cute so they bought the merchandise anyway. When the party got to the chaos gate they entered the keywords and the blue rings whisked them away to yet another adventure.

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The area they arrived in was a dark and rainy field. They looked around to see if they could see any monsters or other players but it amounted to nothing. Except for some trees that contained Chim Chims and some barrels. They went to search for other players that may be in the vicinity so they could beat them and complete the quest.

"See anything yet, Haseo?" Asked Applejack.

"No. What about you Bo?" He asked the young shadow warlock.

"No, Haseo. Sorry..." Replied Bo, apologetically.

"Where are they hiding...?" Muttered Haseo, a little frustrated with the party's progress or lack thereof. They checked a little bit longer and then headed for the nearest platform. Haseo was angry that the quest was all one big lie. Applejack though, was especially miffed by this turn of events. At least Bo and Haseo learned her hatred of lying and foul play the best way possible. At this point, they would be at a platform in less than a minute. But when they got at the platform, they saw another party, seemingly waiting for them.

"Hey guys. Look it's him. He's the guy we want!" Said the leader of this new party, a tall man in red armor.

"Really? Sweet!" Said the player to his left, a short, stocky man in green robes.

"Finally! It's been... ten minutes, right?" Said the player to his right, a yellow clad boy as short as Bo.

"Yeah. Now we earn our keep." Said the leader. "Hey, Terror of Death. I hope you're ready for a beating." This party drew their weapons, a lance, fans, and broadsword respectively confirming their classes as lord partizan, macabre dancer, and edge punisher, respectively. Haseo's party returned the favor and drew their arms, Haseo's dual swords (Heine's Invasion), Applejack's broadsword (Broad Sheaf) and Bo's grimoire (Infinite Spiral). The battle initiated. The whole party focused using their skills on Haseo. The one with fans used the spell 'MiDek Vorv' lowering the physical defense of the entire party a little bit. The other two also used skills and focused them on Haseo, being a more skilled player. And focusing on him was their best bet at being victorious over one of the most infamous players in The World. The arts 'Scarlet Thrust' and 'Tiger Strike' were used by the lord partizan and edge punisher players in the enemy party against Haseo. Haseo managed to block both of their skills and Bo healed Haseo with the spell 'Ul Repth'. Haseo then used the art 'Whirlwind' at the player in green. Using a physical attack damaged him more, because macabre dancers have less physical defense due to them wearing robes insted of light or heavy armor. Applejack went after the other broadsword wielding player. They exchanged blows and skills, but Bo supported her with attack magic. She managed to claim victory. Soon, the green clad player was also defeated by Haseo. All that remained was their leader. Haseo lunged at him, used weapon change, and used the art 'Shell Breaker' on him. Soon his HP was almost at it's end. Bo was given the Honor of finishing him off. He used the spell, 'OrVak Don'. His HP was a thing of the past. The opponents were on their knees to no one's surprise.

"Damn it! I can't believe this..." Said the party's leader.

"You-you wouldn't have beaten us if the Terror of Death wasn't here!" Said the second member, referring to Applejack.

"WE"LL REMEMBER THIS!" Said the third member, before they disappeared and respawned back in Dol Dona. The party gained some EXP and GP.

"That's one down. Do you know how many more we have left?" She asked Haseo.

"No. We'll just have to keep searching for the other parties." Responded Haseo, plainly. They went further into the area to look for them so they could complete this quest. They crossed a bridge and arrived in an expansive clearing in the middle of the area. They had searched here previously but found nothing. Now they might find something here. While looking in this area, Bo turned his head to look around the area and spotted some strange black things in the distance in the distance. And one of them seemed to look humanoid. Wondering what it was, he walked toward it almost without thinking. Haseo noticed this sudden change in Bo's behaivior and tried to stop him. "Bo, hey!" Shouted Haseo, trying to wake up his small friend.

"Haseo... look over there!" Bo pointed his finger at the general direction of these 'things'. Haseo looked in that direction. After some focusing, he quickly realised what it was.

"...AIDA. Here?!" Shouted Haseo. "Damn it..." He ran closer to the familiar black specs that continued to plague The World. The other two followed. Once he was a few meters in front of it, he tried calling Skeith so he could fight it. But...

"Hey, Haseo. Can I try it?" Asked Bo, interrupting Haseo before any patterns formed on his PC. Applejack was surprised with such a bold request. "Just this once?"

"...Good luck, Bo." Said Haseo, giving his approval. Bo walked in front of the party, closer to AIDA. He stopped and did something Applejack couldn't believe. Bo heard a computerized a in c major note, and baby blue patterns appeared on him as he said these words:

"Please... we need your help. We're right here...! Gorre!" Applejack could've sworn she had heard two voices during that sentence, not just one. And in perfect unison as well. Light engulfed the young shadow warlock and the party reapeared in what looked like Avatar space. Now, Applejack bore witness to the fifth phase, the Machinator: Gorre. She learned Bo was an Epitaph User. She found it weird that a little kid like Bo could have the same abilities as Haseo. His Avatar was baby blue in body, had and a sphearicle head with two horns pointing upwards, looking like a crescent moon. Gorre's body seemed to be held together by another sphere, this sphere also held two 'things' that could resemble legs. The fight between AIDA and Gorre began. The variant was a basic 'Anna' type AIDA, in the shape of a protozoa with five flagella. This was perfect for Bo since he recently awakened. He started by summoning bubbles from his body to stop it from moving too much and after a few seconds, he grabbed hold of Anna and shouted "Saku!" Then another body appeared. A baby pink one that looked similar to the baby blue one. But with a headress in place of horns and a skirt of sorts. Both resembled the sun. The pink one began beating on Anna with her fists, before finishing it with an uppercut. The body stayed pink for some reason and it's attacks changed. Gorre grabbed it's 'skirt' and spun it around over it's head as it became a spinning wheel of blades. Once again resembling the sun. Gorre hurled it at Anna, who was overwhealmed by slashes. But the anomoly hed on and managed to fire a lazer at Gorre, who managed to avoid it. Gorre then fired small energy shots out of it's body from all directions, hitting Anna multiple times and breaking it's protect. Bith bodies prepared to Data Drain Anna. They focused their energy into the skill and... let it lose! They fired at Anna and hit it. The data flowed into Gorre and it disappeared. Gorre then dispersed. Bo reappeared in the same fashion as Haseo. He slowly descended and landed lightly on the grass.

"...There may be more AIDA here. You prepared, Bo?" Asked Haseo.

"Ha! Haseo, you dummy! Can't you tell by now?!" Bo's sudden insult shocked Applejack. Bo turned around; she and Haseo saw that 'his' hair looked spikier on the sides, and the positions of the sun and moon ornaments on his hat switched. The sun was now up, and the moon, down.

"Saku? You and Bo switched again huh?" Said Haseo.

"Yeah. And it's _my_ turn to play now!" Said 'Saku'.

"Wait a minute! What in tarnation is going on here?" Shouted a confused Applejack. "And who are you?" She asked the short shadow warlock in purple.

"She's Saku and he's Bo. Read her character name." Said Haseo. Applejack looked at the character's name and man was she surprised to see that it read 'Sakubo'.

"So you mean there's two in one, righ t?" Wondered Applejack.

"Yeah, Bo's player has a twin sister. She plays the game too." Answered Haseo.

"Okay, now everytihng makes sense again. I mean, Saku and Bo switching like that was just wierd!" Said Applejack with an expression of slight fear. It seemed that spontaneity scares her a little bit. The party moved forward and proceeded with their quest. Minutes passed and nothing had changed. No new parties had shown up to challenge them. But those minutes of waiting paid off as their next opponents approached them. An elegant looking man in richly decorated yellow and tan clothing with a large blue ponytail that would make Rarity cringe and blue wave symbols on his cheeks and forehead. He was walking with two girls, one in red, and one in blue. It was a man Haseo knew very well.

"...Kuhn?" Said Haseo, knowing full well why the Epitaph User of the 3rd phase, Magus was there

"Hey Haseo! How's it goin'?" Asked Kuhn, happy. "You in this quest too?"

"Yeah." Responded Haseo, simply.

"Really?" Kuhn was surprised for some reason. "Then I guess that means you're the guy we're looking for."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Haseo wondered what his yellow clad opponent/friend/colleague meant when he said 'the guy we're looking for'.

"Kuhnie, do you know him?" Said the first girl.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Said the second girl.

"Yeah, something like that. But he's our opponent now..." Replied Kuhn, whipping out his bayonet, Silent Jade and continuing, "I dedicate this battle to you two. Your beautiful eyes will be my sword." Said Kuhn, dramatically referring to his 'girlfriends'.

"Oh, Kuhnie!" Said girl A, fawning over him.

"Let's go then!" Said girl B, also fawning over him. Both girls drew staves; identifying them as harvest clerics. Haseo's party also drew their arms and commenced. Kuhn started the first skill of the match, 'Tempest Blast' directly at Haseo and his allies. He fired, Haseo and Saku managed to block the attack in time, but Applejack took more damage. It also didn't help that she was lower-leveled compared to Haseo and Saku. Haseo saw an opportunity and attacked his colleague, using a skill of his own, 'Tiger Strike' in this case. It damaged him some but his 'girlfriends' just healed him with 'Ul Repth' afterwards and increased his physical attack a little bit with 'Ap Corv'. Haseo realized that taking out the two clerics had to come first, and he and his party focused their efforts on them. Haseo and Applejack concentrated on one cleric while Saku supported them by keeping the other two off their backs with attack magic. Despite their efforts, Haseo and Applejack only got her down to just a little more than half of her HP. Kuhn fired a second 'Tempest Blast' at the party leaving no time for them to block it. They took damage and some of the other cleric's damage was healed. But Haseo and Applejack tried it again. And like before, Saku kept them at bay, this time more aggressively than before. This time, it worked; 'girlfriend 1' was beaten by our two broadsword wielders after a combination of skills. The next step was defeating either 'girlfriend 2' or Kuhn. All three of them agreed on Kuhn since clerics in general had little in the way of attacking and steam gunners have very high attack growth. The party began focusing it's efforts on Kuhn. Haseo switched to his scythe and used 'Heavenly Wheel' on his friend; sending Kuhn into the air and hit with circular slashes. He was sent flying into the battle fence and lost one extra hit point. Then Saku used another attack spell, 'OrZan Rom'. Damaging her womanizing associate even further. Applejack was left in charge of fending the last cleric lady. Which only lasted a few seconds before she casted a spell of her own, the spell 'Zan Rom'; using it to attack Haseo. It worked and Kuhn's assailant was thrown into the air by the whirlwind she cast and flew a couple of feet. He retaliated with a skill, 'Chaotic Strike', using it on the cleric who casted magic on him. The damage dealt wasn't enough to best her, but it bought a little time to refocus on Kuhn. Kuhn was under attack again. Haseo had built up enough hits to start a rengeki. Doubling the damage dealt by his 'whirlwind' skill. Seeing the cleric about to heal Kuhn, Applejack went to assist Saku in keeping the steam gunner's remaining cleric friend in her place. And soon, with just one more skill from Haseo's scythe, Kuhn was beaten. All that remained was Kuhn's other 'friend'. Which they beat quite easily with their combined powers and rengeki attacks. Also, being a cleric meant that her fighting abilities were very limited. Kuhn's party was defeated and they gained more EXP and GP.

"Aw man!" Cried Kuhn in defeat, getting back up. "Well, Haseo, looks like you won. Although I'm not sure you know what you winning means in this case."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Asked Haseo, a little impatient.

"Kuhnie, I can't believe we lost to that guy!" Said girl A.

"Does this mean we failed the quest?" Asked girl B. Kuhn turned to the rest of his party.

"Don't feel bad. This is not your fault. I was just too distracted by your beautiful eyes. I was bound to you from the start." Said Kuhn, attempting to woo those two clerics.

"Oh, Kuhnie!"

"Your such a martyr!" Haseo just sighed in annoyance. He always did find it annoying when Kuhn did things like this.

"Well, Haseo, I'll see you later." Said Kuhn, waving and warping away with his 'girlfriends'.

"...Glad that's over with." Said Haseo, simply.

"Does he always act like that?" Wondered Applejack, asking Haseo.

"You have no idea." Replied Haseo, thinking that Applejack would get the idea. She didn't quite get the idea.

"He flirts with women for kicks." Said Saku, bluntly. Now Applejack had the idea. Pushing that aside they went ahead, retracing their steps. They thought if they did, they would eventually find their last opponents somewhere in this rainy place. Unsurprisingly, they found no leads. At first that is... until more black dots appeared before Haseo's eyes. He knew it was AIDA.

"...Damn it! Again? Saku, leave this to me." Said Haseo, to the small indigo shadow warlock.

"Hmph, do whatever you want. Just stay away from Master En!" Said Saku back, being a brat. The computerized note was heard once again in Haseo's head and the red patterns appeared on Haseo. This time for real.

"Alright, come on, come on. I'm right here... SKEEEEEEIIIIITH!" Blinding red light shrouded Haseo as his avatar, the first phase, Skeith, the Terror of death with which he shared a title, appeared again from said light. Applejack noticed immediately that Skeith looked drastically different than before. Skeith retained the horns on its head and knees, but that's where it ended. Skeith's body was now more gold than black in color and a white face with two 'scars' on each eye The 'sash' that it once had was gone, and now rings floated over it's clawed hands, spherical feet, and back. Skeith summoned it's now golden scythe and began fighting 'Anna'. Skeith fired stun bullets, now faster and more accurate than in it's previous incarnation. Anna fought back with energy projectiles but was stunned and Skeith slashed at it three times before sending a gold-colored energy ring from the scythe it's way. It wasn't long before Anna would be Data Drained. But Anna fought back using it's Algol Laser, firing it at the grim reaper-like entity that Haseo summoned. Skeith managed to avoid the blast and continued firing stun bullets at Anna. Being able to move and fire at the same time made taking out a little bit easier. Skeith stunned it again, and went for more of Anna's HP. There was only a little bit of it left. Skeith went in for the kill and slashed the rest of AIDA's HP away! The Protect Break was performed and in place of the scythe came the cannon that allowed Skeith to Data Drain appeared. Anna tried to escape by moving around and firing more energy bullets, but it didn't do any good. Anna stood still for just one moment and Skeith fired on it. The cannon changed shape into a sun and the Data Drain took it's effects on Anna. The data flowed into the sun-shaped power on Skeith's right arm; then Anna dispelled and it was all over. Skeith itself was then dispelled and Haseo landed on the ground.

"Wow..." Said Applejack, in awe. "When did your giant monster thing look like that?"

"After my job extension, my Avatar changed too."

"Oh... what's a job extension?" inquired Applejack.

"It's a quest that let's an adept rouge equip a new weapon after completing it. This is actually my third form."

"Ah, okay, I get it." Confirmed Applejack. "Also, who's Master En?" She wondered.

"His name is actually Endrance. He used to be the Demon Palace's emperor before me. And an Epitaph User."

"...Okay then." Said Applejack.

"...Let's go." Said Haseo, leading the party. It only took them less than a minute before they found the next party. It would've been a standard party if it weren't for two peculiar faces in it. One of which, Haseo and Applejack knew, especially Applejack. The party consisted of it's leader, a young man about Haseo's height wearing a black poncho and indigo hair and eyes, a young girl in white robes, and a certain random someone...

"Hi guys! Are you in this quest too? Oh this is so exiting!"

"Pinkie?!" Said Haseo and Applejack in unison. It was their happy pink friend in the opposing party.

"Oh, did you meet my new friends yet? See, this is Shimegane," she pointed to the white clad girl who was assumed to be he party's magic user, "and Recht." Pinky then pointed to the man in black that wasn't Haseo.

"Ah, Haseo. It's an honor." Said Recht, putting his arm on his chest and bowing in a serving sort of manner. Haseo just scowled slightly at his opponents; intimidating Shimegane somewhat.

"Wait... you're the one Twilight asked me to meet. At Caerleon Medb." Said Haseo.

"Hmmm...? Ah, yes, I must have forgotten about that. I assume Pi gave you my message then?" Wondered Recht.

"Yeah." Replied Haseo.

"Good, good..." Said Recht, creepily, his head bent slightly down. "So, Haseo, you're it then?

"Huh? 'It'? What does that mean?" Wondered Haseo, putting his hand on his hip.

"...So, you really don't know?" Recht giggled to himself... but then burst out laughing! Pinkie Pie and Shimegane joined him, pretty much laughing till their lungs were like unblown balloons. It continued for roughly half a minute with Haseo glaring the whole time, arms crossed. finally the opposing party ended their laughing fest.

"Haseo... heheheh..." Said Pinkie Pie, still slightly giggling.

"What is it?!" Shouted Haseo, somewhat ticked at their antics. (What am I missing here?) He thought to himself.

"Heh... Haseo. The description at the quest shop described a group of criminals that were going to attack the town and it's inhabitants. Remember?" Wondered Recht, his hand on his chin.

"...Hold on. You don't mean...?" Haseo had a strange feeling he knew where this was going.

"The villains in this quest... are _you and your_ party." It did go where Haseo thought it would.

"Us?" Asked Haseo, just to confirm what he heard was true.

"That's right." Replied Recht, "Y'know what that means right?" He paused for dramatic effect.

"It means we get to have some fun with you!" Shouted Pinkie, enthusiastically drawing her bayonet, smiling her usual smile. The other two in the opposing party followed suit, Recht with his blade and Shimegane with her staff respectively. Haseo's party followed suit, drawing their arms. The battle fence presented itself again and both parties started at each other. Recht went for Sakubo for strategic purposes. Haseo intervened and used the art 'Whirlwind' against the blade brandier. The skill connected and Recht was damaged some. He went for Haseo then, leaving the rest of his party to themselves. Pinkie was in the perfect position to blast Haseo's party with a skill or two. And she did; blasted them with 'Tempest Blast'. Haseo took some damage and was consequently hit with a just-recovered Recht's 'Disaster Sword'. Haseo was unable to block either attack and took some damage. Sakubo retaliated from behind the scenes with 'OrVak Don'. Giving Haseo a chance at Shimegane. He switched to his scythe and used 'Heavenly Wheel', also damaging Pinkie Pie. Applejack took a shot at Recht first she slashed at him twice. Both attempts were blocked and Recht unleashed a charge attack; a cheap shot. Applejack got back up after being hit into the fence and was healed Haseo, who used a Revive Rain, restoring 200 HP to each member of his party. It wasn't much but it was more than Sakubo could do, being a shadow warlock. Haseo used 'Heavenly Wheel' again, this time on Recht. It did some damage to the rest of the party due to the nature of scythe skills. After that he slashed at his opponents recovering some HP and SP. Not much of either variable but he took what he could get and ran with it. At this point they were wondering what Pinkie Pie was doing during this time. At that moment Pinkie Launched a surprise attack on the party with 'Tempest Blast'. It both damaged the party and gave the opportunity for Shimegane to heal Recht. Haseo got up and switched to his broadsword where he launched a charge attack of his own on Shimegane. He took advantage of the player-discovered trick of using a skill the very second before a charge attack finishes to inflict even more damage on the cleric; in this case 'Shell Breaker'. Between Sakubo raining attack spells on the party and the onslaught of arts from Haseo and Applejack the cleric didn't stand much of a chance, and she was defeated. One down, two to go. Pinkie Pie used the art 'Sphere Bullet' on Haseo's party, damaging them. They recovered and attacked the pink-haired steam gunner. Recht attacked Haseo and was left by the rest of his party to go after Pinkie. Pinkie didn't really care about keeping a safe distance in this case. She's a flexible person. Pinkie blocked Applejacks attacks and Sakubo's spells almost as if she was aware of when they would occur. Haseo was still busy with Recht; trading blows left and right. During the fight Haseo and his party communicated and devised a strategy. While Applejack and Sakubo attacked Pinkie Pie, they would look for an hole in her defense for Haseo to attack. Simultaneously, Haseo would deal with Recht should the need arise. Applejack charged an attack and let it loose, sending Pinkie Pie into the fence. Haseo saw the opportunity and used the art 'Shell Breaker' on his party-loving friend. Recht charged at them and Applejack picked up Haseo's slack; attacking Pinkie alongside Sakubo. The broadsword's stunning abilities and Sakubo's attack spells provided a way to attack Pinkie efficiently and she was defeated in a matter of seconds. She sure put up a good fight though. Recht was the only one left. He got into a blocking position and took as many hits as he could from all three party members. Then he just... stopped; dropping his guard and allowing Haseo to take him down. It was all over; Haseo's party received the experience and GP that always happened at the end of a fight. The party opposing Haseo's was at their knees now.

"...Haseo. You're certainly very strong." Said Recht, seemingly complimenting the black adept rogue, but neither Haseo nor his party could tell what it was with his voice.

"That was so much fun! Wasn't it Rechy?!" Shouted Pinkie, still enthusiastic despite losing.

"...Quite." Replied the blade brandier, as calm as ever. "You fought well, Haseo." Haseo didn't really know how to take the compliment and stayed silent. "Anyway, I'll be going now. It's been a pleasure seeing all of you." He warped away, as did Shimegane.

"Well, that's all folks!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, also warping away, leaving the group wondering exactly who she was talking to.

"...So, how did the rest of the quest go, Haseo?" Asked Sakubo, who had reverted back to Bo.

"Bo... It went fine. We cleared it."

"So, what happens next?" Wondered Applejack.

"Now we report back to the quest shop and collect our reward." Replied Haseo, leading his party to the nearest warp point.

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When they returned to Dol Dona, they went directly to the quest shop, passing any other players that stopped to say 'hello'. They collected their reward from a vital vista other than the one they visited. It was primarily black in cover and had no hair or hat on it's head like the others. It congratulated them and left, leaving Haseo and Applejack somewhat awkward about the whole 'Haseo's the villain' aspect of this quest. But it didn't matter anymore. Applejack was the first to speak after the black vital vista had left.

"Well, thanks for doing this quest with me Haseo." She said, simply.

"Yeah, sure." Said Haseo, short and blunt.

"See ya 'round!" Applejack warped logged off and returned to her place of origin.

"Thanks for taking me with you on this quest Haseo!" Said an enthusiastic Bo. "Bye!" He too warped away. A few seconds later, Haseo received an email. He logged off immediately afterwards to see what it was.

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Upon logging off, Ryou checked his emails and found that he had more than one. The first was from Applejack with the subject 'Thanks'. She thanked him once again for the quest and how it was kind of weird. Ryou replied asking if she had gone on any other adventures like that with her friends or family. The second was from Pinkie Pie with the subject 'Wow!', telling him how it was a strange coincidence meeting up with him in that quest. It also strangely mentioned Pinkie calling him Ryou for some reason. Ryou sent replied asking more about her and telling her not to use his real name. The third and final new email came from Silabus with the subject 'Take a look', telling him that there was something interesting on the forum in the 'Rumors' section. He checked it and found that an anonymous player wrote something saying:

'Hello my rainbow haired opponent! I hope you're ready to face me! I will be there to inflict justice upon you for everything you've done! Meet me in **Θ Misjudged Past's Blue Cloud**. Prepare to answer for your crimes! AHAHAHAHA!'. Ryou figured that someone wanted to fight Rainbow Dash. The rainbow colored hair on her PC looked strange even by The World's standards. He saw all that he needed to see and exited the forum hoping to take a break from playing the game for a short while. But a short buzzing noise came to him; another email was sent to him. He checked his inbox. The email was from Fluttershy with the subject 'Help...'. He opened it.

'Haseo...

Please... I need your help. Someone on the forum wants to challenge Rainbow Dash...! I'm afraid whoever it is might have it out for her! She needs our help!

Please, come with me to **Θ Misjudged Past's Blue Cloud**... That is if you want to...'

"What?! Rainbow Dash's in trouble? Damn, when will she learn to control herself? Let's go with Fluttershy to **Θ Misjudged Past's Blue Cloud **to find Rainbow Dash." Ryou clicked on The World's icon and logged into the game again. Seemed to him like he would never get a break from his new friends.

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Sorry for the long delay, I had a lot of homework to do and couldn't find time to write. Please tell me your thoughts. Happy holidays!


	6. Righteousness

Chapter 5 Righteousness

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Haseo logged into the game as quickly as he could after receiving Fluttershy's email. He appeared in front of Dol Dona's chaos gate and found Fluttershy there; with a worried look on her face. Surprisingly, Rarity was with her; sporting a (slightly) similar expression as their shy friend. Haseo wondered what Rarity was doing in The World. He didn't think a person like her would keep playing. Fluttershy was the first to speak.

"Haseo... you're here!" she chirped.

"Fluttershy." said Haseo, simply acknowledging his friend's existence.

"I'm here as well, Haseo." said Rarity, looking ready for what's to come. "You two will need someone to support you. Who knows what will happen if you two go off alone!"

"Rarity... right, let's go." said Haseo as he invited the two into his party, both accepting. He walked to the Chaos Gate, entered the keywords **Θ Misjudged Past's Blue Cloud** into the Warp menu, and away they went, to look for their Rainbow Dash.

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Rainbow Dash read the post on the forums and took it as a formal challenge to her by another player. Needless to say she arrived in the cave-like area before Haseo's party did. She also came alone; which wasn't wise of her for more reasons than are countable. she walked along the path that lead to another room, waterfalls on each side. Once there, Dash saw a party of two Hash Chases. Rainbow Drew her dual swords and surprised them, initiating a battle. Since she was the only party member, she had limited strategy options. But being Rainbow Dash, she was very gung ho about fighting them by herself. She started the battle with a 'Whirlwind' on one of these monsters. The skill hit a total of six consecutive hits, prompting her to keep attacking it in hopes for a Rengeki.

(Yeah! I'm totally gonna win this!) she thought. But she figured out it wouldn't be a cakewalk. The other Hash Chase was still there, ready to use a skill on the rainbow-haired twin blade. The monster's skill hit ad she took some damage due to the difference in level. She still went at it, however, and activated a Rengeki. She used 'Tri-Strike'; it added even more damage, even if she couldn't use an awakening due to it being only her. She circled the monster found than when the other Hash Chase used a skill, it was blocked when in front of the one she was currently fighting. Using this her advantage she proceeded to continuously baffle the AI controlled enemies and defeat the first one. Then she made quick work of the second. "20% cooler than all of you!" she shouted, still with thoughts of winning. She kicked two of the mushrooms, finding a Hurricane Razor and a Return Wing. In her enthusiasm, she went toward the only direction she could've headed; the upper left corner of the room. She found a party of two more Hash Chases. They managed to get to Rainbow Dash before she could surprise them. Her previous tactics were not effective as before. Rainbow had to rely on her Skills to take them down. She managed to beat them, but took much damage. This forced her to heal using a Revive Rain she found in a mushroom in this chamber. There was also a treasure chest in this area. She found a Simple Hood inside of it. Dash was about to go into another corridor until she heard a voice call "Rainbow Dash!". She recognized the voice instantly. She met it's owner as she turned around. It was a man with two girls in tow.

"Haseo? What the heck are you doing here?" she asked him.

"R-Rainbow Dash.." said one girl that was with him. A flick reaper in green that she knew.

"Fluttershy? What are _you _doing here?" wondered Rainbow, "Rarity? You're here too?" wondered Dash, noticing her cleric friend.

"It was Fluttershy's idea. She was worried some brute might have it out for you. Rainbow, Darling, we're all concerned for you." said Rarity.

"There's _nothing _to be so worked up about! I got this." said Rainbow Dash, smugly putting her hands on her hips.

"How much HP do you have left?" asked Haseo, with a hunch.

"Well..." Rainbow was blushing in embarrassment since she didn't have much. "I have enough. HP doesn't matter as long as you can win!" she shouted at the party that was very clearly trying to help her. "Besides, this guy's gonna get what's coming to him. He did challenge me after all."

"You don't know that." argued Haseo, "For all we know they could just be waiting to gank you."

"Well... whatever! I'll be back once _my _victory is actually mine." She ran off, away from reason.

"Rainbow Dash...! Dammit." grunted Haseo. "She's stubborn."

"Haseo... Let's keep going." said Fluttershy, with a surprising amount of resolve. Haseo agreed that they had to continue.

"Also, what does 'gank' mean? It sounds very uncouth." wondered Rarity.

"Ganking means group PKing." said Haseo.

"So it is uncouth! We must not let that happen!" shouted Rarity, now with more resolve.

Haseo used Speed Talismans on his party one at a time, and ran after their friend. once they managed to catch up with her, a Chim Door closed behind them. They knew it wouldn't open again unless they gave up fifteen Chim Chims. Rainbow Dash engaged with a Hash Chase and a Scissor Byte, despite being low on items. Haseo and his party jumped into the fence to try and help her out. Once inside, Haseo drew his broadsword, Fluttershy, her scythe, and Rarity, her staff. Rarity casted the spell 'Ul Repth' on her recklessly wounded friend, and said friend noticed it. Dash turned to see Haseo and her fellow representatives of the elements.

"Huh?" she turned around and noticed the people she tried to outrun, "Hey! What are you guys doing here?!" she shouted, blocking an attack.

"We're here to help you." replied Haseo, using the skill 'Shell Breaker' on the Scissor Byte's shell. The shell was almost cracked, but not quite yet. Haseo's physical attack would have to be a bit higher for that to have happened as desired. Only a few more strikes later, the shell fell to pieces. Haseo and the others let lose on it and it was beaten after a rengeki from Fluttershy; surprising the other three. At that rate didn't take much longer for them to win. They gained experience, GP, and more items. Rainbow dash ran ahead of Haseo's party before stopping and turning to them.

"Okay, I appreciate the help and all. But there's no need to worry. Whoever these guys are, I can take them down, no sweat!" Now the twin blade was enthusiastic about the prospect of just battling whomever 'they' were.

"Rainbow Dash, please, listen." said Rarity, walking closer to her friend, "At least us go with you. You'll be safer then."

"Ugh, Why?" asked Rainbow Dash, beginning to relent.

"Because, you're too weak for whoever's here." said Haseo, blunt as usual. Rainbow turned around and crossed her arms with a disgruntled look on her face.

(On one hand...) she thought, (I get to save it all for when I meet this guy. On the other, my pride!) She turned around again to face her friends, "Fine, you can come too." said Dash, in submission. She walked ahead of the interlopers; they followed behind her, ready for what may arrive.

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Rainbow Dash seemed to have a reluctant air about her during the entire trip to the area's beast temple. However, when fighting, she had no issues stealing Rengeki from Haseo on a whim, or being an unintentional annoyance for him. The rogue wore a small scowl while he watched Dash behave in ways he now thought foolhardy. Fluttershy was relieved that Haseo managed to reason with her brash friend. Shy also seemed to be improving her fighting abilities, but remained on the sidelines most of the time. Lastly, Rarity was somewhat tense in general. Being a healer in a party of three plus one added stress. As skilled as they were, they couldn't hold up to monsters in an area of this level stat-wise. Being the least combat-focused just added fuel to Rarity's fire. Although it wasn't an easy journey, the group still inexplicably stuck together. Haseo knew better than to leave her to her own instruments in The World.

Eventually, the four of them arrived at the Beast Statue; Rainbow Dash stopped just ahead of the rest of them. She now looked puzzled at her sight; all of them did really. Except perhaps, Haseo. What stood before them was a giant, figure in glimmering, gold armor, eyes obscured in a red visor of sorts. The figure's voice was just as gigantic as his PC.

"Hahahaha! At last, you've come you Rainbow-haired fiend! Your tainted ways are at an end!" said the figure, booming in a way Haseo knew and wished he could look past. Rainbow Dash just stood there in awe and embarrassment. This wasn't what she expected at all.

"You and your cohorts will have no name from my mouth! The figure jumped into the air and spun once, bringing one arm to his jest, the other to his back. He landed on his feet in a crouching sort of position before getting himself up. "The swift, untainted bringer of justice... Piros The 3rd! The golden man struck a pose and tilted his head up and left, showing his glimmering teeth. It was embarrassing for the rest of the players, especially Haseo.

"Ugh... didn't you just tell me your name?" asked Rainbow Dash, still puzzled.

"...I did...?" asked Piros the 3rd.

"Yeah."

"Sir, I can't say that armor suits you. Perhaps.. something lighter, more subtle." said Rarity, eyeing Piros's armor with much to critique.

"Um... why did you challenge Rainbow Dash? She didn't do anything wrong." said Fluttershy.

"Didn't do anything wrong? Everything about her is wrong! Her hair is not within the graphical limits of the game! Her character is a sham!" shouted Piros the 3rd. Haseo sighed; he knew where this would end up. Piros noticed Haseo in-between Fluttershy and Rarity and said: "Ah! He of fair eyes! You've come to assist me in my pursuit of justice by ambushing this girl and her acolytes, haven't you!"

"Actually, you have it all wrong. I came here with them for her." said Haseo, referring to Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow, respectively.

"What! I'm all alone now?! You've betrayed me, He of fair eyes!"

"Do I seriously have to fight you?" asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief. She knew that if she lost, it could potentially mean the end of her career as a player.

"Piros, you have the wrong idea... again." said Haseo, blunt as usual.

"Not even you can't dissuade me! He of fair eyes! This girl will cause more trouble for the graphics of The World unless I stop her where she stands!" shouted Piros the 3rd, a mixture of a glare and a grin smeared on his face.

"Hey, Haseo? Should I go through with this?" asked Rainbow Dash, feeling a little concerned about her new acquaintance's mental stability.

"...I think you'll be fine. It's not my challenge." responded a lethargic Haseo, shrugging his shoulders.

Rainbow Dash nodded and drew her dual swords, her opponent, drew his own weapon; a lance tulong.

The battle fence was up, all Haseo, Fluttershy, and Rarity could do was wait for it to be over. At least until one of them grew concerned or tired of waiting. Rainbow Dash went straight for Piros the 3rd with "Chaotic Strike'. Piros blocked the skill, but still took light damage. He attacked with his lance. The attack made contact and Rainbow was sent back a few. She recovered and took her stance again. Piros began using a skill: 'Thorn Dance'. Rainbow blocked this skill and attacked the during the brief seconds that Piros was undefended; pulling off a full twelve hit combo on the monstrous lord partisan. Rainbow tried to attack again. Her attacks were blocked, but she managed to connect a 'Whirlwind' skill. The fight would not last. The interruption came when a tall male beast player arrived along with two other boys.

"Hey, look! Some new prey...!" said the male beast player killer. He gave them a toothy grin as he reached for his sword. "Ready your swords, brothers..." The others with him did just that. All of them used dual swords, like Rainbow Dash and Haseo.

They attacked everybody. The sudden attack caught everybody off-guard. Everybody was wounded. The three PKs were quick, but outnumbered. They had the advantage of cohesion as well. Piros the 3rd fought with his enemy to his chagrin. Rarity was forced to participate as well. But the war didn't last forever. It was interrupted, again. This time, it was a familiar man in a poncho. Recht came with a party of his own.

"That's enough! All of you!" shouted Recht.

The fighting froze and everyone looked his way. The player killers immediately sported more nervous smiles.

"H-hey, who the hell are you! shouted one of the lackeys.

"Are you from Moon Tree?" asked the other lackey.

"Dammit!" cursed the leader. "Let's go. We'll be back ya Rainbow freak!" they ran away toward the nearest platform.

Rainbow Dash was having mixed feelings of winning and cursing regarding the PKs who attacked. She ultimately settled on winning. The four players plus an admin, turned to the party before them.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." said Recht, as a joke.

"Oh, thank you Recht. You've no idea what a day we've been having!" said Rarity, happy to reunite with her former opponent.

"I have a pretty good idea of what happened." said Recht, turning to Piros. "Piros, shouldn't you be working?"

"Oh, uh... M-may the stars shine down upon you until you arrive at the end of your journey!" he shouted, jumping and pumping his fist in the air. "I'm off!" he warped away. He left the three girls with new questions about him. Including whether or not Piros accepted Dash. The girls ignored them.

"Haseo. You seem to always get in trouble." said Recht, a lighthearted chuckle escaping him.

"Well... thanks." said Haseo, a hint of bitterness present in his voice.

"You're quite welcome, young man." said Recht, laughing. Haseo cringed.

"Ms. Shy, you were right to call your friends." said Recht to the flick reaper.

"Thanks... Mr. Recht." replied Fluttershy, retreating into her hair a little bit.

"Well, I must be off, calling my boss to see if I can have the day off tomorrow." Recht warped away as well. Leaving them to their thoughts.

Fluttershy gave her 'Thank you' and 'goodbye' to the rest of the party and warped away. Rainbow Dash just warped away with just a goodbye.

Haseo and Rarity had just the beast statue watching them. Rarity spoke first.

"Haseo, if you don't mind, may I ask you a question?" she asked, her hands held close to her person.

"What?" asked Haseo, putting his left hand on his hip.

"Would it be alright if I joined Canard?" she asked.

"Huh?" Haseo had a few ideas about why this was happening, but was unsure. For now he said nothing.

"I think I could be a great asset to your cause."

"Is that the only reason you want to join?" inquired Haseo.

"Well, no, I wouldn't say that's the only reason..." said Rarity, trailing. You see... I also want to get closer to Silabus."

"Silabus?" wondered Haseo.

"He's been such a gentleman to me. I think I might have a chance at true love again."

"You don't have to join Canard if that's your reason. You have Silabus' member address, just talk with him through that."

"Yes, I know. But I want more than that. You can give that to me. So may I join your guild, please?"

"I don't know... you might also weigh Canard down." he said.

"Haseo, have you no pity?!" she declared, putting her hands on her heart. Haseo giggled to himself.

"Alright, I'll let you join." he conceded.

"Oh, Haseo! You will not regret allowing me to partake in your guild's quest." chirped Rarity, clapping her hands, pleased.

Rarity was officially registered as a member of Canard. Afterwards, Haseo and Rarity hurried back to Dol Dona. Rarity struggled to control her joy at the prospect of being able to see Silabus.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

This time I really am sorry for taking almost a year. I had a serious case of writer's block for the duration of the wait. My writer's block has disappeared for the most part, and I plan on finishing this story like I did the first. I will if I can handle college. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


	7. History

Chapter 6 History

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Haseo sighed and looked down at the virtual grass. All the antics his new friends got him into as of late did numbers on him. He'd had enough for one day, and promptly logged out. Pinkie Pie was in Dol Dona looking for players to recruit into her party. Her joyous nature and charisma brought her much luck in her little quest. And, it disheartened her a bit when she learned of no way to celebrate the gathering of so many individuals in The World like she would in Equestria. In spite of this, she did her best with her current resources and organized a monster-slaying adventure party involving herself and several parties of other players drawn to her. When all was said and done, they each offered their eternal loyalty to Pinkie. The pink-haired steam gunner seemed oblivious to the personality cult slowly developing in her favor, or she thought they were becoming better friends very quickly. The others logged out as well. Fluttershy returned to her animals; Angel Bunny greatly missed her. Rarity and Applejack returned to their crafts, as well as their families. Rainbow Dash happily returned to Equestria knowing she could fly again. Twilight Sparkle was the only other pony to remain in The World. She thought it wise to learn more about a world that she knew she only saw on the surface and wouldn't find in any book. Perhaps it exited her to maybe write her findings into a book of her very own. The idea of a land so different from hers sparked an interest in its fake history. The forum was the first place she looked. Not many players were very interested in the backstory of their game; as much as they were in quests and keywords. Twilight noted those quests and keywords in her mind and the warp menu. Still, her thirst for knowledge wasn't sated. The history itself remained uninvestigated for a time Twilight was not fond of admitting to. Then she did something she hadn't before. The World's website was still a mystery to any pony. Twilight saw it as the primary source she regretfully ignored.

The website itself had an aesthetically pleasing design. Much of the focus was on muted colors and industrial designs. Gray and brown were especially prominent, but a brownish-red was also present at the top of Twilight's sight and in a toothed sword. A few clicks into the pages granted Twilight some reprieve. She had found some facts on The World's backstory. It was very interesting. The gods, beasts, and magical fancies of a world perhaps even more technologically advanced than in Equestria. At least the weaponry from Haseo's' world would've never been conceived in her own. She though the steam-based technology was definitely worth investing. And maybe some way to mix it with Equestrian magic.

(Think of all the things ponies could do with this!) she mused.

However, she was also very much content with her status as a librarian and student of Princess Celestia. and while Equestria wasn't a sparkling paradise, it was still very interesting by itself. She would have much to ponder and share with her teacher upon her return home. Twilight would relish chance to have an intellectual conversation with Celestia.

It didn't take Twilight very long to finish reading the material provided by CC Corp. Although she enjoyed it and would definitely write a book about it later, she felt she needed insight from a player of The World. Her first action given this desire was to start posting in the forums asking for comprehensive information about The World. All she could really do afterwards was wait for responses or for adventures to come her way. Not wanting to wait for it, she returned to Dol Dona. Many players stood in the grassy town; socializing privately or loud enough to be heard. Twilight stood silent in neither category. None of her pony friends were online, nor any of her friends with real identities. Nothing else appeared wrong with her experience in The World. Knowing this, she wandered further into Dol Dona. There was little she could occupy herself with without her usual company, and she wondered what Twilight Sparkle was even doing there. Unfocused and confused are feelings she isn't friendly with. Her focus came to an abrupt start when a buzz popped into her head. A message.

_**Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground. **I want to meet you there._

The message itself presented a vague request. Why was Twilight requested there? And who? Her face reflected the fact that she had those questions. She didn't know if a fight could be initiated in that area, or if AIDA infected it. No one would protect her once she arrived. But did she venture into this 'Holy Ground'? Yes. Twilight quickly bought potions from an NPC shop just in case of an attack of any kind. Afterwards, the Chaos Gate's blue rings of light transported her once more to Mac Anu, and finally to the area in question.

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The eternally warm-colored sky above the Hulle Granz Cathedral was contrasted by the players in it that day. A tall man stood still on the beautiful, polished floor. The stillness was almost perfect, and the illumination from the wide windows at the end of the building captured any movement. He could be spotted even if he was still; this man, Ovan contrasted the cathedral itself with his blue attire. He stood in front of a pedestal where a goddess statue once was. The sole imperfection of the cathedral's interior, was the bright mark etched into the pedestal. A sign of unthinkably broken things. The man almost didn't want to look at it. Yet, he did. He blinked slowly, then looked up to the ceiling. For a moment, the cathedral was silent. The man collected himself and looked straight into the radiant windows. A creaking echoed through the faux-marble cathedral. From outside; the bridge with a platform at the other end trailed behind a girl. Twilight Sparkle arrived. The shadow warlock thought about the cathedral in a way no structure in Equestria was ever considered. It seemed to had been built as more than a simple place of worship, if worshiping took place there at all. Twilight immediately noticed the tall man standing at the other end of the structure. And just as quickly recognized him. She spoke first.

"O-Ovan?" she wondered aloud.

Ovan turned to see her, "Hello, Twilight," he greeted, smiling, "it's been a long time."

"A long time is right." mouthed Twilight, "So, why did you call me here?"

"...I wanted to know how events have been transpiring." he uttered.

"Well if you mean to ask how things are, then things have been hectic." replied Twilight, "The game's been fun, but some of the players here are... strange, to say the least."

"How's Haseo?" asked Ovan.

"He's fine, I think."

"That is good." said Ovan, "Has he gotten stronger?"

"Knowing him, I'm sure he has." replied Twilight.

"And your friends. How are they?"

"They've been well, aside from all the crazy stuff that's happened lately."

Ovan gazed in Twilight's general direction for an awkward minute before he spoke again.

"Twilight." he said.

"Yes?" said Twilight.

"It was nice to see you again."

"You, too." finished Twilight, before Ovan warped away.

Twilight was once again left with no other reason to remain in her current circumstance, and left as soon as she could. The cycle of the blue rings continued with her involvement.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryou Misaki logged back into the game after Twilight left for the Hulle Granz Cathedral to check Canard's headquarters and update his guild's status with Death Grunty. Haseo made some progress in filling his items and equipment bars, and earned GP for his troubles; which includes enduring Death Grunty's verbal assault. The terror of death exited in silence, he didn't want to hear his grunty's words for his thoughts. Haseo had no AIDA to purge or events from the quest shop to be hired for. He wondered about his friends and their potential actions while he walked to use the Chaos Gate. The forums spoke of an area to find a King Chim Chim, which he found a little amusing. Along the way, he heard other players talk small in a way he found to be unintelligible and insignificant. Then, he checked with Gaspard at Canard's guild shop. As expected of Gaspard, he sold quite a bit of merchandise because of his cute face. Satisfied with the results, Haseo walked further to the Chaos Gate. He only noticed two players lurking around the gold-colored structure, whispering about topics Haseo assumed player killers would whisper about. It was nothing new. The player in black simply stood there, lost in thoughts about his friends and about The World. Then, a notification on Ryou's screen appeared saying he had new messages. Haseo logged out afterwards.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ryou's inbox only contained one new message: Pinkie responded to his previous email by saying it was a little boring to call him just 'Haseo.' According to the Pink steam gunner, using his real name made her feel "closer" to him. She also told Ryou about her family, upbringing, and how she first met her five best friends. Haseo insisted in his response on calling him 'Haseo' both in the game and in emails. He said using his real name was dangerous on multiple levels. He was decent enough to be semi-polite about it. Next, he checked the forums. There were no posts about new areas, meaning no new keywords. He did find Twilight's post about wanting to know The World's backstory. Ryou didn't know if she meant wanting to know how the game was created or the actual story of the game. But either way, he found it baffling. In his baffled thoughts, he responded by inquiring what she meant and that he'd respond to it as best as possible.

(There's just no escape from them.) thought Ryou, smirking.

He took off and left his gaming equipment on his desk and walked to his bed, where he laid down, and watched the ceiling. He thought about the anonymous person who imprisoned him in a comatose world of pastel colors and equines. He asked himself who and why something like this would come to fruition. Minutes passed and Ryou felt hungry. He left his room to make tea and a snack, before returning to his room and consuming all of it. Ryou returned to his computer afterwards. Then he had some new messages; one from CC Corp. about new quests, and one from Pinkie Pie, inviting him to one of her classic parties with all of her new friends.

(Seriously? A party? In The World?) he contemplated, (I guess there's no stopping her. Let's go with Pinkie Pie... to her party.)

He logged into The World once more.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

I don't know when I'll stop apologizing for updating late, but hopefully that day will come. Don't forget to tell me your thoughts on this chapter please.


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